


The Ravages of Time-Compression

by Talliya



Series: Final Fantasy RPs [10]
Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 01:30:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5951089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talliya/pseuds/Talliya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Time-Compression is ending it yoinks the Strahl from Ivalice and crashes it into the streets of Esthar. Whatever will Balthier and Fran do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crash Landing

**Author's Note:**

> This is an RP done with Vegas Libertine. (He's Fran and Laguna, I am Balthier and Kiros.)

Balthier had just made it to the pilot’s seat after escaping another airship, their raid of it’s prized possessions a huge success. Fran was just sitting as he was disengaging their line to the other craft, when suddenly there was a loud explosion… except it was more sound than anything actually exploding. Then there was nothing but total silence before the sounds of their breathing and his own heartbeat filtered into his ears. He blinked several times before realizing that he was in unfamiliar airspace...and the Strahl was no longer functioning. They were headed for a crash landing smack in the middle of a gigantic blue pulsing light.

“Fran. If I die. Know that I am sorry for dragging you into, whatever this is.” Bathier turned to look at his companion as he tried in vain to make the Strahl pull back up into the air.

Fran stood at the engineering console of the ship, ready to engage the moment her captain returned. The moment Balthier took his seat, they were off, another successful mission. She hadn’t even had the chance to smile, however, when the explosion took place. Only the first milliseconds of the sound were observed by the viera’s finely tuned ears, but after that there was nothing loud, high pitched ringing. Not having the time to make it to her seat, the female dug her sharpened claws into the edges of the console, grasping on for dear life as the ship suddenly began descending.

The long-eared beauty turned her gaze upon her captain once more, not allowing the fear which now gripped her to display itself on her face, giving him a strong, confident smile. “You shall not die this day! I have not granted you my permission!” She managed, knowing that without being buckled into a chair like the male was that there was simply no chance of survival and that they were likely to be her last words. As the ground rushed towards them, visible to the female via the open cockpit window on the other side of the male, she closed her eyes, unable to watch…

At the last second life filled the Strahl and Balthier was able to pull them out of a deadly dive, however they still smashed hard into whatever this blue light was. It cracked and buckled and then gave way under the Strahl just as the sharp tines of whatever they were crashing through ripped his poor craft apart. The controls shook in his hands as the life left the machine once again. There was now red light as well as blue in front of them and the only thought going through Balthier’s head was, ‘I am going to die…’ “So, um, about that permission?” He asked over his shoulder as the bottom of the Strahl, or what was left of it, hit solid...something. He was thrown from his seat, the straps holding him there breaking like brittle twine. His last conscious thought was that he had hit something soft.

Fran was torn loose of her console as their ship struck the object towards which they had been rocketing. In the blink of an eye she found herself on the floor, her back against the backside of Balthier’s chair. She could feel that her left shoulder had been freed of its socket but had no time to assess the damage, as they were still moving and she could see bits of sky as the Strahl was torn asunder around them. Unable to think of anything else to do, she turned and lunged for the passenger seat in an attempt to take hold.

“Never!” The viera shouted, her fingertips barely touching the chair’s armrest as the second collision occurred. The event seemed to happen in slow motion. As she exited the open front side of the destroyed vehicle, still moving in the speed at which it had been going just split seconds before, she could see her captain’s seat straps being torn through like a candy wrapper and that he was going to meet the same fate as she. The female closed her eyes once more, embracing what was to come, smiling, as she had not given him permission. She didn’t even feel the last impact, everything simply...ceased to be.

Kiros waited with Laguna and Ellone after they returned to the Ragnarok from Lunatic Pandora. Then the world morphed, he kept himself grounded thinking of his friends and their children. Then he was back in the Ragnarok with Ellone and Laguna. Soon after they heard the voices coming through the radio. Kiros moved to the pilot’s seat and flipped the switch, “This is Ragnarok.”

“This is Lunar Gate. We’ve got confirmation of Squall and the other SeeDs in the Cape of Good Hope at the abandoned orphanage. Also...we had something crash down in the streets of Esthar. You may want to take a look at it Sir.”

“I read you. Thank you for the updates.” Kiros flicked the switch off again and turned around to look at the other passengers, “So, what should we do Mister President?”

“Crash down? That was pretty vague…” Laguna spoke, partially as a half-assed response to Kiros’ question, but mostly out of his own curiosity. “Naturally we gotta go check it out!” The male placed his hands behind his head, moving his top half back and forth in a lame sort of stretch, not bothering to move from his standing position in the middle of the deck.

“But seriously though, what did they mean by something?” The President scratched his head curiously, his other arm flopping back down lazily to his side, wondering just what it was they were in for. So long it wasn’t sorceress-related and so long it hadn’t killed anyone he didn’t really mind...it was something to do! They had survived and the male, having heard confirmation that Squall and the other SeeDs were fine, was already ready for some more action. It had been a while since they had been through so many cool things all at once and he wasn’t ready to quit!

Kiros nodded his head before turning back around in his seat and buckling up. “Buckle up Ellone!” Then they were disengaging from their crashed position in Lunatic Pandora. Once they were clear he turned them in the direction of Esthar City. As they neared it it was plain to see that something had smashed through one of the streets.

“What do you suppose did that?” He asked the room at large. He settle the Ragnarok as close the hole in their fine street as he could and turned it off. He stood from his seat and walked back through the ship on his way out, wondering what they were in for this time.

Laguna walked to the front of the cockpit, placing a hand on the back of Kiros’ chair and examining the hole in the street as they landed. “Dunno...I didn’t even know the streets could break like that. Crazy…” Once the ship was parked he let his hand off the chair and half-ran to the exit, making sure to be the first one off the ship.

Outside, standing upon the street, Laguna had more of a sense of just how big the hole was and how much damage it had caused. Down the hole he could see a large object which had come to rest between the large supports of two buildings, seeming to have neatly wedged itself there. It sort of looked like some sort of vehicle...but the damage was so extensive he couldn’t be sure. “Kiros, Ellone!” He called out as his counterparts began disembarking the ship. “You guys gotta come see this!” Before they had even made their way over the male was already climbing down the hole. After all, if it WAS a vehicle, there may be someone hurt inside…

Kiros shook his head as Laguna raced past him, shrugging his shoulders at Ellone who simply chuckled behind her hand. They followed the exuberant man out of the ship and over to the hole. He was halfway down it before Kiros caught up to him. He simply shook his head and followed Laguna down, “Stay here Ellone, if we get stuck go call for some back up.” The young woman nodded and simply peered over the edge watching them. 

Kiros made it down and onto whatever it was that had crashed through their street, the hole was practically in front of the presidential palace, so now that the dust had settled people were coming out to see what had happened. Ellone did her best to keep them away for the time being.

Kiros kicked at the contraption below him and it made a hollow ringing sound, the same type of sound that happened when he kicked the side of a ship or the Ragnarok. “Hmmm, what do you make of it Laguna?”

He looked past the other man and gasped, “Are those bodies?!?”

Laguna stopped next to the large metallic object, placing his hands upon the side and looking it over, trying to imagine what it must have looked like before it’s collision. His eyebrows widened as Kiros kicked at the side and he placed his ear against it to see if he could hear anything. The minor buzzing of a severed electrical connection could be heard as well as a soft beeping...what sounded like a muffled emergency alarm of some sort. “I think...it’s some sort of ship.” The male spoke in response to his friend’s inquiry.

Laguna looked to Kiros just in time to see the male’s eyes widening in a perceived sort of panic. His shoulders tingled at the mention of the word ‘bodies’ and he almost didn’t want to turn around. The crash had been epic, so who knew what it’s survivors looked like. Slowly though, he turned, and pleased to not see much blood right away the male quickly approached the crumpled pair, kneeling next to them.

“He’s still breathing…” Laguna spoke, his voice lacking any excitement over the discovery. In the state these two were in, they were likely better off dead. “Call the medics.” He ordered, all sense of laid-backedness having left his tone completely. Underneath the male was a second person, but the President honestly couldn’t make out it’s gender and was positive it was dead…

Kiros was moving slowly toward Laguna and the bodies when Laguna told him to call the medics. He turned and hollered up to Ellone, “Elle! Go back to the Ragnarok and call for a medical evacuation! There are hurt people down here!”

Ellone nodded quickly and ran back to the ship to make the call. Luckily there were very near the Palace and therefore the hospital. As she came back out from making the call she could already see an ambulance on it’s way over. “Help will be here in less than a minute!” She called down to them.

Kiros waved his arm at her and turned back to the bodies. “We should probably move him off of the other so we can better assess the damage. If you don’t think moving him will do more damage that is.” He knelt down and put his hand to the unconscious man’s chest, feeling that his breathing was shallow and his heartbeat was next to nothing.

Balthier was floating in some strange place, he knew his body was in pain, but he couldn’t seem to feel it. He could vaguely hear sounds, but couldn’t make anything of them, a hand at his throat, another on his chest. They were fleeting feelings, his body spasmodically going numb and then feeling everything at once before going numb again. All he could think of was Fran, was she alright? He’d been strapped in and was this bad, she had had no such protection. Great fear seized him and he struggled to regain consciousness, but failed. His body twitched and then was motionless.

Kiros stared at the body under his hand as it spasmed and then went still, he quickly felt for a pulse and it was still there though even more thready than it had been. He hoped moving the man wouldn’t snuff him out. “Perhaps we should wait for medical help after all?”

Laguna half nodded at Kiros’ suggestion at moving the top body. If there was any chance at saving the other, having the first laying on top of him or her like that was surely not helping. However was it worth the possible damage to the male who was still-clinging to life? He looked back towards his friend, unable to really give an answer. His gaze turned back towards the apparent ship, and his suspicions were confirmed, as the inside, although trashed, was in remarkably better condition than the out and it was still recognizable as some sort of piloted vessel. 

Laguna’s eyes turned upon the mound of bodies once more, watching the male spasm, shifting as if he wanted to help but simply unable to make any decisions. Kiros’ next suggestion brought him a bit of relief, as the male was typically better at thinking clearly in these sorts of situations and usually worked out the best course of action before long. “Y...yeah...we better not touch ‘em.” He could hear the ambulance come around it’s final corner and stop near where they had parked the ship, it’s siren winding down slowly as the sounds of paramedics exiting the vehicle replaced it. The male stood and took a step back, motioning for Kiros to do the same. “Let’s give ‘em some space…”

Fran found herself standing upon some sort of solid surface, completely surrounded by darkness. She looked around a little, curious as to what was going on. This was not quite what she had expected from death. In fact, she didn’t /feel/ dead at all. ‘Anchored’ would have been a viable term for the strange sensation. She tried to take a step forward, successfully able to lift her right foot, move it forward, and set it down again, but the action somehow completely lacked the actual physical sensation of having moved. “Hello…?” She spoke plainly, hearing no echo in her voice whatsoever. “Strange…” She crossed her arms, her eyebrows furrowing in concern. Rather than dwell on it, she turned her thoughts back to the crash. What had happened? They hadn’t been anywhere near a planet, had they? Had Balthier survived? “Balthier…” She spoke once more, her hollow words echoing within her heart. The viera closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, reaching forward in a semi-embrace. She could almost feel him there…

Kiros nodded his head and stepped back away from the bodies with Laguna as the paramedics came swarming into the hole. He watched as they assessed the man before deeming him moveable. They lifted him up onto a stretcher and three of them set to hooking him up to oxygen and patching up his wounds as best they could. The three remaining went to the second body. From his vantage point Kiros could now tell that it was female...at least by their standards… it had boobs at any rate. Though it also seemed to have huge furry ears? Were they ears? Kiros had never seen anything like them. ‘She’ seemed to be in much worse shape than the man who had landed on her however.

The medics found a nearly gone pulse and immediately set to work calling one of the three on the man over to help them out.

Laguna had turned his attention back towards the ship once more, half out of curiosity and half out of not wanting to see the gore in any more detail. He wasn’t sure if he could handle it. The remains of the inside looked insane...there was no way this was a space vessel, it looked more like a boat, or an old-fashioned airship that had been heavily upgraded with some sort of technology that was both outdated and advanced at the same time. This was all so insane. He spotted a short smear of blood on the floor behind the two seats and it hit him that one of the vessel’s passengers had not been seated. Probably the one who had ended up at the bottom of the pile. He shivered as he imagined what it must have been like.

“Kiros, come check this out.” Laguna didn’t bother waiting for the male as he climbed inside the gaping hole through which the occupants had been ejected. He noticed what seemed to be the co-pilot’s seat, still in relatively pristine condition, buckles loose and unlatched, before looking to the pilot’s seat which was in noticeably worse condition, the straps having been torn through completely. The sight pretty much confirmed his suspicion that one of them had been standing...so whatever had happened must have happened quickly. More noticeable than anything, however, was that he couldn’t seem to identify ANY of the technology around him. “I don’t think these guys are from here!” He shouted back to his friend.

Kiros turned to Laguna as the man spoke to him, of course his curiosity would get the better of him. He shook his head indulgently and followed him in, only to be shouted at as he finally caught up to the man. He blinked at him, “I’m right here you know.”

He looked around at the insides of the contraption, just then something in the back burst and a jet of hot steam flared toward them. Kiros blinked again, “No way! Is this a steam engine?!” Kiros’s voice was high pitched with excitement and his eyes seemed to sparkle. The man was down right giddy at the very idea.

“No! Mine!” Came a shout from outside, it seemed the man was awake.

Balthier came too strapped down to something. He struggled against it to no avail, then the voices registered and he opened his eyes. These people didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before, all in weird robes that covered practically everything. His head, which he couldn’t move even slightly without extreme pain was facing toward what was left of the Strahl. That was when he saw them...in HIS ship! “No!” He panted harshly, “Mine~!” He wanted to yell at them to get out of it, but then another thought struck him and his heart literally skipped a beat. “Fran!”

“Sorry…” Laguna turned to see Kiros right behind him, smiling innocently and scratching the back of his head some. Before he could say anything a bust of steam startled him, causing the male to jump back. He moved to speak again, but was interrupted by Kiros who was suddenly yelling louder than he’d been just a minute ago. “Jeez, I’m right here ya know…” He joked. The dark-haired male understood his friend’s excitement though, as if this machine were truly steam-powered and truly traveled through space...it was more than impressive.

Laguna jumped once more at the sudden sound of yelling coming from outside. The male was apparently awake, and without another thought, the President jumped from the ship and ran to catch up with the paramedics who were taking him away, doing his best to help try and calm him. “Hey hey, we’re not gonna steal your ship, it’s all yours buddy! Just calm down okay, you’re injured, we’re taking care of your friend too…” He had noticed the other as he ran past and was still pretty sure the one who he now recognized to be female...and possibly an alien...was likely beyond help. Still, the male with the strange accent would hurt himself if he kept freaking out like this. “...you’re both gonna be okay.”

A sickening feeling feel over Fran, as she could feel the invisible presence of the male being pulled from her grasp and didn’t know what was happening. Unwilling to show it, however, the viera stood her ground, refusing to lose her cool. Unable to think of anything else to do, she began walking. She still felt nothing as her body made the motions of moving forward, and it seemed completely futile...but the movement of her legs and arms did manage to help calm her mind a bit. Whatever was going on, Balthier was alive. Of this she was certain, if for no other reason than she had not given him permission. He would find her, and he would save her...just like always.

“Fran! Damn it! If you can hear me, you’re not allowed to die either!” Balthier shouted after some other guy, not dressed in robes like the others, came rushing to his side to reassure him. Then he flopped back down, though he hadn’t really been ‘up’. His body had been tensed and now that tension was gone, and with it went his consciousness again.

Kiros shook his head, “Well at least we know one of their names.” He had followed Laguna over to the rather distraught man. “What should we call him I wonder? We’ll have to get a salvage team out here and find as much of this ship as we can. Maybe when he’s better he can tell us how it works.”

He looked over at the woman, now with an iron lung attached to her and IV’s running fluids into her body. “With how much blood she’s lost. I’m not sure she’ll make it. I very much doubt we have anything in supply that would work for, whatever she is.” He shook his head sadly.

“You’ll have to give some kind of speech you know,” He glanced up at Laguna, “About the crash site and what’s being done about it.”

Laguna frowned, a visible sadness in his eyes as the male continued yelling for a while before passing back out. It was a painful sight to see, he knew all too well how it felt to know a loved one was in peril. Fran was her name...and alien or not, the man was obviously more than attached. “Lover boy…” He responded to Kiros’ inquiry about what the male should be called. “Yeah, salvage...we should have every last piece moved to a hangar and marked secure. For now it’s government property but I have no intention of separating a man from his ship.”

As Kiros looked towards the female, Laguna did as well, once more taking in her crumpled sight. His hand moved to the side of his head, rubbing it lightly, warding off a coming headache, his friend’s words bringing him discomfort. He had assumed she was done...but he didn’t trust himself as much as he trusted his friends, and with Kiros pretty much confirming it, well...it made him feel sick to his stomach. “We’ll do everything we can. I believe these are visitors to not just our city...but our planet. They should be treated as esteemed guests.”

The thought of a speech only made Laguna’s stomach hurt worse, the old feeling of a cramped leg threatening to show itself if he continued such a train of thought. “Ugh, don’t remind meeeee…” The male sighed heavily, turning back towards the ship once more as the injured couple were loaded up to be taken away. “Dammit…”

Fran stopped as she heard a faint voice which she instantly recognized to be Balthier. “Captain…” She spoke softly, her ears twitching frantically, unable to located the source of the quiet sound. With another deep breath, she picked a random direction and began ‘moving’ once more, quickly breaking into a swift jog. She didn’t have permission either...and she would never disobey her Captain. The viera was determined to make it back...

“Lover boy?” Kiros shook his head, it would have to do for now he guessed. He nodded his head at Laguna’s insistence that they do everything they could to help them, “We will. We should head back to the palace. I’ll call the salvage crews out here once we get back. There seems to only be the two of them. But we can send the rescue team that just arrived in to search and make sure.” He started moving toward the easier side of the hole in order to climb out.

“Sounds good.” Laguna remained where he stood a while longer, his eyes still upon the wrecked ship, before finally moving to follow Kiros with a sigh. Once they had reached the top of the hole, he walked back towards Ragnarok, adjusting his dirtied clothing, already thinking about what he was going to say in his speech. Naturally, he would probably have someone else write it for him...but it was good to have a few ad lib ideas in mind. 

Before boarding Ragnarok once more, Laguna took a look around at the crowd of concerned citizens who had gathered, sort of unsure what, if anything, he should say to them. “Uhhh…” He began, wondering what they could all be thinking, “Don’t worry, people! It’s all under control! Just...go home, it’ll all be on the news later, for now the work crews are gonna need their space and we don’t know if it could be dangerous!” He didn’t want to worry anyone, but who knew…Without bothering to elaborate, the male boarded his ship once more and Headed to the middle of the cockpit where he’d been standing originally.


	2. Death of a Viera?

Kiros scurried up the side of the hole and headed back to the Ragnarok after Laguna, he paused when Laguna did and noted the concerned look on his friend’s face. Then the President was telling the gathered crowd to disperse. Kiros smiled at him, he wasn’t the best with speeches but he always spoke from the heart. He turned to survey the crowd as they began leaving the site. He spotted Ellone talking with the remaining medics and called out to her. “Come on Ellone, we’re going back to the Palace. Not much we can do here at the moment.”

The woman nodded and made her way up the ramp and past him after Laguna had entered the ship. He followed them, locking the hatch in place before heading for the cockpit. He settle into his seat and belted himself in, “Buckle up!” He called out. Then he lifted the Ragnarok into the air and set it down on the landing nearest the Palace and shut it down.

He unbuckled and headed out, he watched as Ellone headed for the elevator seat (something that was unique to Esthar) and sat down, waiting for them.

Laguna simply stood in place as he always did, trusting the ship’s artificial gravity to keep him steady and Kiros’ piloting skills to keep him alive. Once the short trip was complete he followed Ellone and Kiros to the exit, watching the female enter her elevator seat as well, hanging back for a moment to get a word in with his friend. “So...sorta almost forgot, but ya think we should made contact with Squall and the rest...just to check up? And on that note….” he figured the male wouldn’t have any sort of answer to provide for his next question, but it had already been weighing on his mind and he just had to ask. “...you think maybe the whole time compression thing might have something to do with our visitors?”

Kiros looked over at him, “It might have something to do with it. It did happen as we came out of Time Compression. And if you would like to check in with your son, by all means, do so. It’s not like anyone but him is going to try and stop you.” Kiros chuckled as he went and took a seat next to Ellone.

Laguna chuckled a bit at Kiros’ comment and shook his head. “Naw, they’re fine…I got President crap to do.” the leader decided as he followed the male to the elevator and took a seat on the other side of Ellone. The man should have had a lot on his mind...time compression, his son who’d just basically saved the universe with his friends, the wreckage, his impending public speech….but the only truly prevalent thing that continued to repeat itself in his mind was one of the things the injured passenger of the crashed ship had said. ‘You’re not allowed to die either!’ The male had yelled, and the President had been dwelling on it ever since. The sentence had painted a vivid picture in his mind of what the crash must have been like while it was happening, and he just couldn’t get it out of his head. His hand moved to his forehead, rubbing his brow some as the elevator began to move and a long sigh could be heard escaping his lips. What a way to screw up a man’s mood…

Kiros turned to look at Laguna when he heard the man sigh, he watched as Ellone reached over and placed a hand on his knee. “It will be alright.” She said.

Kiros wondered about that. Sure Squall and his friends had stopped Time Compression and saved their world as they knew it, but if Laguna was right and these two people had come crashing down on Esthar after being thrown here because of the Time Compression… what were they going to do? Their lives had just been completely uprooted and there wasn’t a thing anyone here could do about it. At least not at the moment. They certainly didn’t have anyone who could repeat the Time Compression and he doubted that even if they could, that anyone would want to.

He shook his head, it was no use worrying about getting these people back to their own time and place when he didn’t even know yet if they would live. He hoped however that both of them would pull through. And as much as he disliked the idea, they may need to get Dok Odine involved. He wouldn’t tolerate the man experimenting on them...but his expertise in such things could be beneficial to the woman. After all, she wasn’t human.

He stood as the elevator came to a stop outside the Presidential Palace, “She’s right you know. Everything will be fine. We’ll figure this all out. We’ll just have to go slowly and gather information as we can.”

Laguna smiled softly as Ellone gave him comfort, leaning back in his seat and resting his hand on the back of hers for a moment in return. He couldn’t really think of anything to say and just nodded at her words, his expression still mostly blank. It was a strange feeling, usually things didn’t get to him like this, at least not in a way that he would let it be shown the way he was. Then again, tragic relationships were sort of his soft spot. 

Forcing himself to change the subject in his mind, Laguna turned his thoughts towards the vessel. Steam powered space travel...the whole thought just seemed ludicrous. Then again, however, Esthar City’s own version of space travel involved using high speed rails to actually get the vessel out of the atmosphere...and honestly getting something into space was the hard part, after that it was relatively simple and significantly less demanding as far as propulsion and fuel went. So….maybe. And what about the female? Though they were heavily damaged, she’d seemed to have the ears of a rabbit...her entire build had been strange in an unrecognizable yet prevalent way. Earlier he had speculated that she could possibly be an alien...but space travel or not, steam power wasn’t going to get anyone far enough to be running into aliens. At least he hoped not, or all the advancements his city had made from electrical power which consumed far more resources in the end just seemed….silly.

Laguna stood as the elevator stopped, smiling and nodding once more to Kiros’ reassurances. Ellone and Kiros...they likely had a lot on their mind too, and the male suddenly felt bad that he’d made them feel the need to go out of their way to comfort him. Quickly, upon that realization, he forced his old, typical smile on his face, raising a hand to scratch the back of his head, returning the favor of comfort. “Hey, thanks guys, I know, we’ll see this through. Sorry I got all weird for a sec…” The male turned his upper half left and right, stretching his back a bit before heading into the presidential palace, making haste for his office, the location of many phone numbers and other such information he was undoubtedly about to have uses for.

“It’s alright Laguna. There has been an awful lot to process in the last few hours.” Kiros thumped him on the back. “We sent your son and his friends off to fight a crazy Sorceress from the future, went through Time Compression, and then dealt with a crash site and the alien beings who crashed.” He gave an eloquent yet expressive shrug of his shoulders, “We’ll know more once the docs inform us on how our patients are doing. Until then, I’m going to go call in the salvage teams.” And Kiros went off to make the phone calls.

Balthier woke again to blinding pinpricks of light shining at him from seemingly every direction. If someone had asked him how many lights there were he honestly wouldn’t have been able to them, but his answer would have been four anyway. Then he felt the pain of his body being prodded and tubes down his nose and throat. He could hear beeping and the mechanical whir of machinery, but he couldn’t place the sounds to anything he recognized. He began to panic and struggle but then another sharper pain entered his awareness before it all slipped away again.

Laguna couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at his friend’s kind words. Indeed it had been quite an insane day. “Thanks, bud.” He returned before the two parted ways. Upon arriving at his office a few minutes later, the male plopped down at his desk, opting to lean back in his comfortable chair and close his eyes a moment rather than get to work. His mind still needed a while to sort itself out. The thought had only just hit him….but he hadn’t even realized that Esthar’s streets could break like that. It had never happened before. How were they even going to fix it? When was the last time any streets had been in need of any significant amount of repair like that? The city, ‘perfect’ just the way it was, hadn’t experienced any significant construction in as long as he knew of and the male couldn’t even think of the name of a company he could contact for it. “Man...Think I’m going to let that be a Kiros thing…”

Nearing her breaking point, Fran was now running at full speed. She kept hoping she would see or feel anything...the slightest bit of motion...the tiniest speck of light. Her eyes refused to even play tricks on her, the darkness ever-consuming. Finally, stricken by the futility of her situation, having been running for what felt like hours, she slowed to a stop and dropped to her knees. The viera simply knelt in place for a while, giving herself a while to catch her quickened breath. After a bit, she reached forward once more, attempting to recapture the sensation she had felt earlier when imagining Balthier. There was nothing, however...not even the breeze of standing air to welcome her grasp. She let her arms slump to the ground in defeat and turned her head upwards, taking a deep breath before finally allowing herself to show a bit of emotion. “ENOUGH!” she screamed into the void, “What is it that you want from me??” 

Kiros moved to sit behind his desk and picked up the phone dialing the operator, “Get me Esthar Salvage please.”

He waited a few moments for the line to connect before he heard a ‘Hello?’ from the other end.

“Yes, this is Kiros Seagill at the Presidential Palace. We had a craft of some sort crash through one of the main streets in front of the Palace twenty or so minutes ago. President Loire would like you to salvage as much of the craft as you can and put it in an empty hangar and mark it all as Secure. No one is allowed to mess with any of it without the President’s express permission.”

Having the orders confirmed back to him and letting them know to start immediately Kiros hung up the phone. Well that was done. He sat back with a sigh, then bounced forward and picked up the phone again. He dialed the hospital, “Hello? Yes, this is Kiros Seagill, I’m calling to check in on two recent patients from the crash site?”

The nurse who picked up the phone immediately got eerily quiet before answering, “The woman, Fran, is still in the ICU, she keeps fading in and out. The man is in Recovery, he’ll make it, but we don’t know how extensive any mental trauma for him will be since he hasn’t woken since he came out of surgery.” She paused a moment before continuing, “Sir, the doctors would like to know if they can call in Dok Odine. Since we don’t know what she is, his expertise could be very helpful in saving her life.”

Kiros nodded his head at that remark, he had been thinking that himself after all. “Go ahead, but he is not allowed to take anything from her or add anything to her for purely experimental purposes. We want to save her life and leave her as much as she was originally as we can.”

“Yes sir, we’ll keep you posted.” The young woman said before hanging up.

Laguna continued silently thinking things over for a while longer before finally sitting forward and bringing up the console menu installed into his desk. “Number for the press conference guy…” He mumbled to himself as he browsed his document full of unorganized phone numbers, finally deciding to get some work done. Realizing he’d labeled most of his numbers with names and couldn’t remember half of who was who, he realized that once again, this was probably a Kiros thing. “Man I’m so useless…” He chuckled lightly, grinning some at his own perceived incompetence. “How the heck I ever became President is beyond me…”

Fran’s ears twitched lightly as they picked up the faint sound of a voice. “What…?” She asked, looking around slightly puzzled.

“Who are you?”

Fran jumped to her feet at the sudden volume of the question. It had sounded as if it were far off just moments ago but now it sounded like it had been right in front of her face. The viera’s skin crawled with confusion and dread at how crazy this all was. Without question, feeling she had no choice, she answered. “I am Fran, Master of Weapons.”

“Why are you here...Fran, Master of Weapons?”

Compelled to continue but unsure how to answer, Fran couldn’t help but ask. “I...I do not know. Have I died?”

“...”

“Hello?” A mere 10 seconds of silence already had the viera worried. She was communicating with something...it was some sort of progress...but had she ruined it somehow? Perhaps it was thinking? A bit more time went by before Fran couldn’t help but speak again. “Please...Am I dead?”

“...It would appear as such. However, you do not belong…you are not...of me.”

Finished with everything he had set out to do Kiros headed for the President’s office to see how Laguna was doing.

Balthier felt as if something were fading, he couldn’t seem to wake up if he was asleep. He couldn’t move anything, he couldn’t hear anything, it was that absence that scared him the most. His link to the ether, that which made Ivalice what it was, seemed to be shrinking away from him. “Fran~.”

He’d meant it to be a yell, but it came out only as a whisper. But as his ears heard it, other sounds began to invade his senses, more beeping and whirring, muffled voices, opening and closing doors, footsteps. He could tell that his body was restrained and everything hurt. He opened his eyes slowly to see that he was in a room with low lighting. He swallowed and then tried to call out, “Hello?” But barely any sound left his mouth. He tried again, “Hello?”

A passing nurse popped her head into his door that was cracked open. Seeing that the occupant was awake she came into the room, “How are you feeling?”

Balthier blinked, more strange robes. “I… hurt. But that’s not important. Where’s Fran?”

Laguna’s smile brightened as Kiros entered his office. He had accomplished nothing at all and had been hoping his friend would show up soon to help. “Hey, how’d it go with the salvage folks?” He asked, leaning back in his chair once more.

“Of you…?” Fran questioned curiously, “I do not understand...what do you mean? Who are you?” She began looking around once more, attempting to locate any possible light or even a shadowed movement that may be accompanying the voice.

“I….am all.”

The statement caused pause in Fran as she suddenly began to make sense of the situation. The thing with which she was currently conversating...it was the collective consciousness of the planet itself. The statement ‘you are not of me’ was probably because, wherever herself and Balthier had ended up, it was not their own home planet. But why would this matter? “Because I am not...of you...is this why I am not allowed to join you?”

“Yes. You are a foreign entity whom I would be unwise to simply trust.”

 

Probably not a good thing. Fran thought carefully about what she would say next. She was but a single soul speaking with an endless mass of many and who knew what problems the wrong words may bring. “I arrived here by accident, I bear no ill intentions. However, I understand your hesitance…” She wondered just what it was the entity planned on doing with her. “Do you plan to...dispose of me?”

“It went alright. They agreed to gather as much of the craft as possible and put it all in an empty hangar. I told them that no one was allowed to go near it without your express permission. They should be started by now.” Kiros moved into the room, “I called the hospital. They said that the man is out of Critical care and in Recovery, but the woman is still in ICU. She keeps fading in and out. They asked to get Odine involved and I allowed it on the condition that he doesn’t do anything unless it is sure to save her life.”

The nurse gave him a sympathetic look, “Your friend is still in critical condition. We are sure how to help her. We’ve never seen someone of her physiology before. So there isn’t a lot we can do. We’ve called for help from a scientist who studies the effects of magic on the body, we’re hoping he can help us save her. But, the outlook isn’t very good at the moment.”

Balthier closed his eyes against the pain the truth inflicted, then opened them again. “You’ll let me know if anything changes?”

The nurse nodded, “Of course. Though now that you are awake, it would be extremely helpful if you could answer some questions.”

“I’ll-.” He seized suddenly as he found it difficult to breathe, “Do, what I can.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, let me get you some painkiller!” The nurse moved over to the IV’s hooked into his arm and switched the bag on one of them with another that was nearby. She waited a few minutes, silently watching him, when it was obvious that the pain was reduced by his body’s relaxed state she turned that one off again.

“I thank you.” Balthier wondered just what this stuff was that worked so well. But he could find out later. “What do you need to know?”

“You’re welcome. Well your name to start with.” The nurse answered him.

“Forgive me! I am not usually so lax in my greetings. I am Balthier, a Sky Pirate by trade.” If he wasn’t restrained and quite certain that he wouldn’t be capable anyway, he would have stood and bowed theatrically.

“Ahh, a Sky Pirate? I’ve never heard of that before. And your friend, Fran? What is she?”

“Well she’s a Viera of course. They are a secretive race, but all of Ivalice knows one when they see one. Which leads me to believe that is no longer where we are.” He heaved a gusty sigh.

“A Viera. Hmmm, and no, I’ve never heard of Ivalice before.” The nurse frowned, perhaps this man had hit his head terribly hard after all. “Um, so. What do you remember of how you got here?”

“I recall the lead up to the crash, we’d been flying above Archadia making a quick escape with our latest plunder, then there was a loud explosive silence and we were in unfamiliar space. Nose diving toward some huge blue light. The Strahl wasn’t functioning, I couldn’t get it to work at all until the last second, barely pulling us out of our crushing fall. But we still crashed into that blue light, my poor airship was torn apart by it and we were jounced around. I remember hitting something soft and then nothing until I woke up to find myself strapped to something and people in my ship. Then again nothing until I woke up here.”

The nurse was jotting down relevant notes as he spoke, knowing that the President would want to be informed, and she didn’t want to leave anything out. She nodded at him, “Are you hungry?”

Balthier looked down at himself as much as he could without being able to really move his head much, “Yes, I think so.”

“I will be back in a bit then, with food, and hopefully news of your friend.” Then the nurse left the room.

Laguna’s face scrunched up at the mention of the name ‘Odine’, as if the word itself had produced some sort of stink in the air. “Auugh…” The male once again rubbed his head, trying to comfort the ever-growing headache. He didn’t mind the scientist TOO terribly much and even sort of enjoyed the male’s accent, which was...silly to say ze least. No, it was something else about the strange man that brought the leader such grief. “...everything that’s happened in the past weeks leading to now...and nothing can get to me as much as that man’s collar does. I mean...seriously what the heck?” 

With a soft chuckle followed by an exaggerated sigh, Laguna spoke once more. “Seriously though...Once again, I’m sort of incompetent...and I need a bit of help getting a press conference together. And um...writing a speech. Also I don’t have the slightest clue who to get ahold of about fixing the street.” He smiled innocently at the male who would have made so much more efficient of a President than himself.

“I do not possess such power.”

Fran released a barely audible sigh of relief at the knowledge she at least would not be destroyed completely. This still left many questions though, and she was having a hard time deciding what else to ask, let alone what she could say to help the entity trust her. “Well...May I ask then...what it is you have planned for me?”

“For the time being...It is safest if I hold you in this state and do not allow you to diffuse.”

Fran understood what ‘diffuse’ likely meant, that her ‘soul’ would dissipate into the rest of the planet’s consciousness and become one with it. True death. With the planet itself seeming to want to prevent this from happening, although dead, the viera was currently immortal in a sense. A sudden thought occurred to her and she contemplated asking if Balthier was also being held...but she thought back to her earlier embrace. That feeling...it had definitely been him. Her captain was alive. He had likely been interacting with her physical body in some way, causing the sensation, she just knew it. Asking would just be admitting she wasn’t sure, and she felt that if she weren’t completely positive, then it may not be true. Suddenly, a better question came to mind. “Is it within your power to send me back to my body?”

 

“I have considered this. Your vessel has been severely damaged. It is unlikely to accept your presence at this time.” 

The viera shook her head at the knowledge, releasing a slightly more audible sigh than her previous. She didn’t mind death, and this strange purgatory wasn’t even too terrible, as she had an entire planet to conversate with, which wasn’t bad. What was frustrating Fran however was the helplessness she felt and being unable to be there for Balthier. He was alive, this she knew, but there was no way he had emerged from the crash in any way unscathed. If he was conscious, he was likely spending far too much energy concerning himself with his rabbit-eared engineer, which was simply not acceptable. She only hoped that her body, or ‘vessel’ was being tended to and would ‘accept’ her again soon. “Thank you…” She spoke, still wanting more information but too offput to think of anymore for the time being. “I apologize for the trouble I have caused.”

He chuckled at Laguna’s problem with Odine and rolled his eyes, “I know right? I will never understand that tiny man’s fashion choices.” He sobered quickly though, “I just hope he can actually be useful.”

Kiros shook his head at his friend’s remark, “You’re not incompetent, you’re just unorganized.” He walked over behind the desk, “What do you want to get done first?”

A serious look came across Laguna’s face for a moment as his friend mentioned his hopes about Odine’s usefulness. The President had little faith in the scientist’s fashion sense, but just the mention of the name had given him a bit of hope where before he’d had none. He nodded in agreement...the bunny girl had to survive. The two may have been strangers to their land but the ever-romantic gunner knew true love when he saw it and would defend it to the death if need be.

Laguna pushed his head from side to side, cracking his neck as he considered which was more important, Kiros’ friendly remark helping to motivate him a bit, as always. “Ahhh...Suppose the press conference? They probably want time to get organized before the evening news...Then the street, THEN the speech. I can do either of the first though if you can give me a number to call!” 

Kiros chuckled at his friend, “Sure thing mister president sir.” He gave a slaut before pointing out the numbers for his publicist and the two different construction companies in Esthar. “Would you like me to write your speech?”

Just then Laguna’s receptionist called into the room via an intercom on the President’s desk. “President Lorie, there’s a phone call for you on line one. It’s the hospital.”

Laguna giggled lightly and opened his mouth to protest being referred to in such a formal manner when he was interrupted with Kiros’ question about writing his speech. He thought about it for a moment...he’d feel bad if he let his friend write the whole thing...though he couldn’t think of a single instance where that hadn’t pretty much ended up being the case anyway. In fact, his own input usually just slowed the fast-paced male down. With a soft sigh, half of relief and half of defeat, he nodded. “Hah, you know what….go for it. I guess I’ll make the call then so it’s at least KIND of an even workload for once.” 

A smile came across Laguna’s face and before he could get to work his desk intercom came to life, a sweet voice informing him of a phone call. One he had very much been anticipating. “Hold that thought.” Quickly he snatched up the phone receiver, switching to line one, foregoing the typical formal answer he usually forced himself to repeat and getting straight to business. “Tell me it’s good news.”

The nurse on the line smiled at the President’s eager response, “Well it isn’t bad. The man’s name is Balthier. Apparently he’s a Sky Pirate for a place called Ivalice. And the woman, Fran, is something called a Viera. Balthier seems to remember pretty much everything that happened to them. And the name of his craft, his Airship as he called it, is the Strahl. You may want to come down and speak to him yourself. The nurse who spoke to him when he woke up is currently taking him food and hopefully he will rest more afterwards. But the woman. She’s basically dead. We have her body going on life-support for the moment. Dok Odine just arrived and hopefully we’ll have better news concerning her soon.”

“I see…” Laguna wasn’t sure how to take the news. Was the male aware of the current state of his companion? Would his health suffer knowing she was ‘basically dead’? Odine’s quick arrival did bring a bit of comfort, but the situation was still worrying. Also...what the hell was a sky pirate? “Thanks for the information, I’ll be over shortly. In the meantime, spare no expense. Have any bills sent straight to my office.” He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair, bringing his hand up to his chin in thought for a moment before filling Kiros in. “The guy is gonna be fine. Odine already showed up and is gonna check out the girl. ‘Basically dead’ is the term they gave me…” The male scratched his brow a bit, making an odd face. “Balthier and Fran are their names. They’re...sky pirates I guess?”

Sky Pirates? That doesn’t bode well if they survive, stealing isn’t something we should condone after all. But it proves that their craft should be able to sustain flight. Though perhaps not in space… or they would be Space Pirates?” Kiros mused aloud. He shook his head before patting Laguna’s shoulder, “Well let’s get this done and out of the way so that we have the time to wonder and worry. Make those calls and I’ll start on your speech.”

Balthier waited impatiently for the nurse to come back, when she did she brought a tray-like object with dishes upon it. The food he presumed. The nurse brought the ‘tray’ over and set it down on a high moveable table that she rolled until it was set across Balthier’s lap. “I wasn’t sure what you would like, since our food is probably rather different than what you’re used to. But there are mashed potatoes and gravy, some grapes, oatmeal with honey and sugar to put in it if you would like, and I just got you water to drink.”

The man nodded, “I thank you.” He wasn’t sure what oatmeal was, but the rest were familiar. There was a spoon and a fork to eat everything with, so after she had helped him to sit up, he found that he could in fact move somewhat. His muscles were tired and slow, but moved when he told them to. And it didn’t hurt all that badly, though she had recently doused him with “painkiller”. He took several bites of the potatoes before asking, “Any news about Fran?”

The woman shook her head sadly, “Nothing good yet. They are barely keeping her body alive, but that doktor I told you about, the scientist? He’s here and we’re sure he’ll find a way to save her.”

Balthier nodded slightly and began eating again. He needed to regain his strength if he was going to get the two of them out of here. He wasn’t leaving without Fran, and she wasn’t allowed to die damn it!

Laguna nodded at his friend’s words, turning back to his desk and picking up the phone once more, dialing the number Kiros had pointed out to be his publicist’s first. He spent a few minutes on hold before a snobby-sounding female’s voice finally answered on the other end. “Yes, this is President Loire, I need to schedule a small press conference for tonight’s news broadcast.” His eyes rolled at the mention of his own title, god he hated that. It took everything he had not to pronounce it in a sarcastic manner…

“I sense...no evil within you.”

Fran’s ears perked up a bit and she lifted her head, her eyes growing wide, her pupils retracting, a bright green orb of light suddenly having appeared in front of her. She was unsure what to say, it was surprising to say the least. 

“I have felt your mind...although you are foreign to me, I believe I can trust your presence.”

A shiver went down her spine as Fran realized that the planet was in fact, ready to accept her, essentially completing her transition from life to death. But...SHE wasn’t ready to die. “Would it...be acceptable for you to keep me as I am? Just for a while longer?”

“...it has already begun.”

Fran’s eyes widened a bit and she looked at her hand, realizing she could nearly see the light shining through it. Quickly she hopped to her feet, shaking her head and protesting loudly. “No! I am not ready!” She turned from the entity and began moving her legs in a running motion towards the opposite direction, dismayed to be able to actually see that she wasn’t moving rather than just feel it like before. “Stop! Let me occupy my body once more, I don’t care if I’m braindead, I don’t care if the pain is unbearable, I must live...for him!”

Balthier went back to sleep after eating, but woke with fear clogging his throat. “Fran!” He was screaming her name before he even woke up. The doctor rushed in and dosed him with something that calmed him down and made his limbs feel too heavy to move. His panic did not lessen however and he kept up a running litany in his mind, shouting his thoughts to the gods. Hoping that they could hear him even if this wasn’t his planet, perhaps the gods here would help them out, even though he didn’t know who they were. He was intermittently railing at gods to intervene and save her life and begging Fran herself to come back to him. He refused to live if his best friend and partner in crime wasn’t there to live it out with him. He mumbled to himself for hours, begging and pleading with Fran to stay with him, not to leave him alone in this strange place. Telling her that they were going to get back home if it took him the rest of his life to get them there.

The nurses and doctors who walked by his room and those who came in to check on him went unnoticed by him. And they worried that his mental state would deteriorate if the woman could not be saved.

Dr. Odine entered the brightened room containing the alien specimen, his eyes widening at her sight, both from the extent of the damage as well as her strange appearance. “Zis is ze patient?” He asked the nurse accompanying him, receiving a solemn nod in response. “Mhmm, zat vill be all, thanks.” He dismissed her quickly, shuffling to the female and taking a closer look. Definitely alien, definitely beyond repair...at least as far as conventional medicine went. Quickly he opened his satchel, retrieving some of the tools he’d brought along and beginning a much more thorough examination. It was apparent immediately that her brain would need repair before anything else even so much as mattered….

Fran continued running, pushing every one of her muscles to their limit, glancing down his her hands in dismay every now and then, watching them grow ever thinner and more translucent. “Balthier!” She called out, “Help me!!” She heard a response, soft and almost inaudible, and changed her heading instantly. It had been her own name...in Balthier’s voice. “Captain!!” She started running again, this time actually beginning to feel herself moving, the light starting to finally move away from her. The viera’s resolve was strengthened heavily at the progress and she gave it her all, her ‘body’ aching horribly as she continued following the voice, picking up more and more speed as she went, her hands no longer losing mass and actually beginning to reform as she moved. 

Laguna hung up the receiver, having finished both of his surprisingly stressful and annoying phone calls with success. He smiled at Kiros who was still busy writing his speech and stood from his seat. “Alright, I’m gonna go visit this Balthier fellow. Thanks for the help, bud.” He patted his busy friend on the back before exiting the palace and making his way towards the hospital. 

After a mere 10 minutes of walking and efficient public transport the male had arrived, and with a bit of direction from the nurses he found himself in the door of the sky pirate’s door, a concerned frown upon his face at the sight of the struggling lover. His mind wandered back to a phone call he’d received years earlier...one in which he had been informed of the state of his former lover, Julia. ‘Basically dead’ had been the term they used back then as well...

Kiros nodded his head and kept scribbling away as Laguna left the room. He was nearly finished, but figured he’d run it by Ward first.

Balthier felt a strong pulse run through his mind, a flicker of what he now realized was his connection with Fran. “She’ll be alright,” He muttered to himself, “She’s strong, she’ll be fine. It’s not the first time we’ve crashed and she wasn’t buckled in, she’ll be alright.”

He finally looked up as that feeling in the back of his mind continued to get stronger and noticed someone new. Well not really new now that he thought about it. “You were in my ship.”

Laguna’s smile returned at hearing the male’s words, glad to see his brain seemed to at least be in order. “Well, to be fair your ship was in my city. Still is.” He approached Balthier’s bedside, folding his arms over his chest. “Promise I didn’t mess with anything though...was just tryin’ to figure out how a steam-powered boat came falling out of the sky. The Strahl is currently being moved to a safe place and won’t be touched again except by you and your companion…the both of ya.” He added the last part, hoping to give a bit of reassurance. “In the meantime...how’re they treatin’ you? Is the food okay?”

Fran continued running until the light was gone once more, refusing to stop even then, beyond overjoyed to be experiencing the sensation of movement at all. She no longer heard her Captain’s voice, but that was okay, she had a heading, and she was no longer losing mass. “I’m coming…” She spoke, her tone overflowing with confidence and determination.

Balthier grinned, “Your city? And exactly where is that?” He was glad at least someone thought that both he and Fran were going to make it through. “And as to why a steam powered ship fell out of the sky… it stopped working. I’m not sure why. One moment we were over Archadia and then next my view was filled with a blue light and my ship was no longer powered up.”

“That blue light you speak of is my city. You’re inside of it now.” Laguna chuckled lightly, having pretty much pieced a good chunk of the story together by this point. “Welcome to Esthar City. I’m President Laguna Loire. This Archadia...I’ve never heard of it. And if what I’m thinking is right, you probably haven’t heard of Esthar either.”

Dr Odine, having already learned a lot, began modifying some of the female’s life support systems. He would need a bit better of an oxygen flow and for the auto-defibrillators to be ready to go for his next procedure. Essentially, he would be restarting her brain like a computer. The soul had already departed, there was a good chance it could never return, but if there were to be a chance at all, it would need a properly functioning brain in which it could house itself…

“You live in a light? How is that possible? Plus, everything isn’t blue. I’m so confused.” Balthier shook his head, “No I’ve never heard of Esthar. But I’ve already gathered that I am no longer on Ivalice. Which is the name of my planet, not my country. I don’t really have a country. I roam all over Ivalice looking for lost treasures.”

Kiros finally finished Laguna’s speech and set off to find Ward. He found him overseeing the salvagers. “Hey Ward, could you look this over? I don’t want to miss anything big.”

The man took the paper and read it before looking back at Kiros.

“What?! What do you mean I shouldn’t mention the Viera?” Ward gave him another look. “How would that cause a panic? There’s only one of her!” Ward shook his head. “You know Laguna will say something about it even if it’s not in here. So why should I take it out.” The big man sighed and shrugged his gigantic shoulders. “Fine, I’ll tweak it. It’s not like we have to mention what she is I guess. Not right now anyway. The people just need to know that no one’s dead.” Ward nodded his ascent and Kiros headed back into the Palace to rewrite Laguna’s speech.

Laguna laughed lightly at Balthier’s confusion, having experienced it himself at times. “I don’t really get it myself sometimes, bud. You’ll see once you step outside again.” He listened as the male spoke about his homeworld and occupation. Just searching for treasures? Perhaps the word pirate wasn’t as bad a thing as it was considered here. “So that’s what sky pirates do then? Search for treasure? No….raping, pillaging, walking the plank...all that junk?” At least it made sense as to why the man had so freely admitted the occupation to his nurse.

Dr. Odine finalized his preparations, the life support system basically having been converted into one big human on/off switch. He was certain the shock would restore neural function, as he’d done it a dozen times before. Then it was just a matter of keeping the soul anchored to its vessel until he could enact further repairs. He approached the female’s bedside, placing a finger on the switch that would begin the process, hesitating. At the last moment, he’d realized it may be a good idea to contact the male that his patient had come in with. Just in case she...didn’t turn back on. He lifted his finger off the button, instead using the appendage to press the nurse call button, speaking quickly as the on-call arrived. “Please see to it zat ze President and ze other patient are brought over immediately.” He didn’t bother going into anymore details, simply shooing the female away. 

The nurse made quick pace down the hallway to the room where the male was currently being kept, relieved to find the President there as well. “Sir, Dr. Odine requests both your presence in the other’s room. I believe he wants to begin some sort of procedure.” She looked towards Balthier, addressing him specifically. “You shouldn’t be walking, even if you think you can. If you like I can bring you a wheelchair or we can move you in your bed.”

Laguna nodded to the nurse, turning to Balthier once more with a look of hopeful confidence, awaiting the male’s decision on his transportation.

Laughing lightly Balthier shook his head. “No we don’t rape anyone or pillage the living. Me and Fran look for artifacts mostly. Some we bring to traders, other’s we take to governments that have been searching for them for years. Some of the things we obtain… currently belong to others before we take them. But being a Sky Pirate is a renowned profession in my world. It’s something youth’s wish to obtain for themselves. Simply the freedom to go when and where you choose. I’d certainly say it has its appeal.” He chuckled, “Vaan certainly thought so. Luckily he had Penelo to look out for him. And planks are for those pirates with boats on water, not in the sky.”

Balthier looked up as the nurse arrived, “A procedure on Fran? I...It will be faster if we just move the bed yes?” He couldn’t explain the overpowering need he had to physically see Fran.

Laguna nodded once more, standing and moving to the back of Balthier’s bed, ready and happy to move it himself. “Anything ya gotta unhook, nurse? Or can I just start pushing?” 

The nurse worriedly looked between the pair’s faces for a minute, having wanted a bit more time to prep the patient but seeing that they weren’t about to sit around and wait for her. With a soft smile and a shake of the head she removed the male’s ekg sensors and re-hung his IV bags on a different stand attached to the bed itself. “Alright, he’s good to go.” She moved to the front of the bed, grabbing the railing and giving it a pull, steering the bed and leading the two to their destination.

Laguna followed, doing most of the pushing himself, excited to hear of progress, even unknown progress so quickly. As goofy as Dr. Odine dressed, the man was brilliant. “We’ll get you two searching artifacts and making the children of your world jealous in no time, bud.” The nurse opened the door for them once they arrived and the President pushed his new friend inside, parking his bed next to the others’. He looked to the doctor questioningly, not really having to say anything to get the man to start rambling…

Dr. Odine hardly waited for the male’s bed to start before he began, speaking about as bluntly as a man possibly could about anything. “Here is ze deal. She iz dead. BUT...if she iz strong of heart, ve may be able to fix it.” He looked towards the conscious, male patient, not having to think hard in order to interpret his expression. “You are ze huzband? Friend? Lover? Vhatever it iz, she vill need your support, both in mind and body. Feel free to take her hand. Ze procedure iz dangerous, I vill tell you now. Vithout it, she remains in zis state as long as she iz plugged in to ze machines. Vith it, 50/50 chance. If ve fail now, zere iz no point in attempting to continue. I apologize for ze bluntness, I just want zis to be perfectly clear.”

“She’s not remaining hooked up to some machine for eternity. Do whatever it is you think will work. Any chance is better than dying in a foreign place. I’ll always be here for her.” He reached over and picked up Fran’s hand and spoke to her, “I’m here Fran. Come back to me.”

Dr. Odine nodded, looking towards the President and receiving another nod back in confirmation, and his finger found itself upon the master switch once more. “Godspeed.” He spoke, flipping it neatly, the room being filled with the sound of monitor alarms as the female vital systems all stopped one by one. It was loud and chaotic, but after about 30 seconds each of the alarms began to die off one by one until a full minute had gone by and the room was silent once more. The male moved his hand, flipping a second switch, and a slight quiet buzzing could be heard as the modified defibrillators sent tiny electric charges into the female’s brain in an almost sort of neural massage. The Viera’s eyes could be seen moving as if she were dreaming, although it was simply a response to the procedure and meant nothing. Another full minute went by before the doctor moved his hand back to the first switch, flipping it back in the opposite direction…

Fran stopped suddenly as a strange sensation came over her. It was almost as if something in her chest had been pulled, and although it didn’t hurt, it seemed...ominous. She moved her right hand to just above her right breast, rubbing the area of ribcage behind which her heart was located. She moved her mouth to speak but was interrupted as the feeling suddenly exploded into what felt like a full blown heart-attack, but in her whole body at once. “AHHHHHH!!!” She cried out, crumpling to the hard ground, unable to find any way to move that brought any sort of relief, just struggling there, not able to comprehend what was happening.

About 5 seconds after Dr. Odine flipped the switch back on, the female’s body began to seize rapidly. He simply reached down and took hold of her free wrist, not necessarily restraining her, simply directing it so it wouldn’t hit anything hard. “Careful, don’t let her rebreak any bones.” The limbs had barely been set and it wouldn’t take much to possibly cause a compound fracture and a loss of blood was something they couldn’t afford right now.

Fran could only watch her own hands as they began to glow, the dim light penetrating the darkness once more. She was horrified to see various gashes and scars opening up down her arms, one of her fingers dislocating itself as all the bones in her forearms seemed to crack and break like glass, her right shoulder pulling itself from her socket. What was happening? Had her refusal to become one with the planet’s consciousness ended up getting her banished to some crazy form of hell? Her skin began to glow brighter and to her dismay she began to fade once more, wisps of green light detaching themselves from her and floating off into the void. A single tear ran down her cheek as she forced out what she assumed would be her last words. “I’m...sorrry…..I wasn’t….strong enough…..my love….” She closed her eyes and with a brilliant flash her body dissipated into a thousand little wisps of light which seemed to cluster together and rise…

Dr. Odine began to show a look of concern as the female’s seizure grew more and more intense. It was possible the neural massage hadn’t been enough, and that right at this very moment she was being lost to them forever. He looked around the room, checking the various readouts on all the monitors, now showing vitals vastly different than they’d shown before the female had been ‘shut down’. After a few minutes however, just as the man was about to attempt a second restart, if only to avoid damage from the seizure...it simply stopped on it’s own. With a strange sort of pained sigh, Fran’s body simply laid back into its bed, resting once more. There was a few seconds of remaining chaos before all the monitors slowly fell back into their quiet, typical state. Odine’s eyes gazed intensely at the female’s face and quietly he whispered. “Now...vake up…”

“Ahh…” A silent moan escaped Fran’s lips, the first sign of life since the crash, and at an extremely slow pace, she began to stir. Feeling a familiar hand upon her broken and thinly casted one, she forced a tiny smile, willing her head to turn in the male’s direction. “..C...Cap...tain…” She managed, just barely, before the pain began to catch up to her. It felt just like it had back there, in the place, right as she thought she’d been dying. Unable to help herself, she began to scream once more, struggling in her bed in an attempt to find any release at all, every possible movement somehow being more painful than the last. “AHHH...m….make it...stop!!”

Balthier watched in horror as Fran’s body died, and then was restarted by machines. If this didn’t work, perhaps he could convince these good people to kill him too? He held her as still as he could when her body began thrashing, not wanting her to be any more damaged than she already was. “Fran.”


	3. P.S.A.

Long minutes later she turned her head to look at him, he’d never been so happy in his life. But then she was screaming and thrashing again. “Fran! Fran you need to calm down! You’re going to hurt yourself more!” His voice rose as panic engulfed him again. “Please! Can’t you give her ‘pain-killer’ like you did me? It should work exactly the same.” He looked around at the doctors, begging with his eyes. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being in pain.

Dr. Odine ignored the two, quickly attending to his machines. Nulling her pain wouldn’t work, even if the same drugs used for humans did in fact work for her, the damage was just beyond even their advanced pain medications. He obtained his last few needed data readouts as fast as humanly possible before coming back to the bedside, nearly running, and injecting the female with a substance to induce an artificial coma. Within seconds Fran was unconscious again.

Fran couldn’t stop herself, her muscles moving and jerking violently in response to every bit of sharp new pain she felt coming constantly at her from all directions, inside and out. As the drugs kicked in and she felt herself slipping into sleep, she managed to utter one last thing to Balthier. “Thank you...for guiding me…..”

Laguna simply stood in his place, stunned to silence at the events taking place in front of him. He felt disgusted to almost feel a hint of jealousy at the apparent ease in which Fran had been brought back from the same ‘basically dead’ state his own forbidden love had been lost to so long ago. Still, the joy of success outweighing the sorrow of loss, his gentle smile found itself resting upon his face, right where it belonged.

Balthier watched the small oddly atired scientist as he bounced from machine to machine and then injected his Fran with something. He smiled at her words, “I’ll always be here for you.” He frowned over at the scientist, “What did you do?”

“I apologize I did not have time to speak, only act. She iz simply in an artificially induced coma. Her injuries are too great for simple painkillers. I assure you, she iz fine and I am now certain she vill pull through.” Dr. Odine smiled reassuringly at the male, excited to have not lost his patient. “Your help iz greatly appreciated. I am convinced it iz you who brought her back, not I.”

Balthier exhaled the breath he had been holding when the man said he put her into a coma, when the man said she was going to be alright. He rubbed his thumb over the back of Fran’s hand gently, “So she’s really going to be okay?” A solitary tear trekked its way down his cheek, he let it. It was alright to show emotion in such instances. Besides, Fran couldn’t see it to make fun of him. “I’m glad.” He rested his head back down on his own bed and fell asleep holding the woman’s hand in his own.

Laguna directed his smile towards Dr. Odine, impressed that the male had found time to bother himself with comforting Balthier and exchanging such kind words. “Thank you...If it’s fine with you, I’m going to arrange to have Balthier set up right here next to Fran so they don’t have to worry about each other.”

Dr. Odine nodded, accepting the thanks, not bothering with a you’re welcome. He wasn’t typically one to bother with kind words while he was working, but the man seemed to be the key to keeping his companion tethered to her body while he completed his work, and honestly he had simply wanted to ensure that his stress levels remained low so he could be available further down the road if needed. He responded to the President’s suggestion, liking the idea. “Yes, zat would be perfect. We need to keep zem stress free.”

Laguna nodded, turning towards the exit to find the nurse, but stopping and speaking once more before doing so. “I’ll leave my office number here for you. Any further updates at all, I want you to contact me directly...so long you have the time anyway. If not, just make sure someone who is here calls me.” With that he exited, finding the nurse who had helped earlier still standing outside the door and providing her with his instructions and number. After a bit of friendly flirting (he could never help himself) the gunner exited the hospital, making his way back to the presidential palace and to his office once more, making a half-puzzled expression at seeing Kiros still working on the speech. “Let me guess, you got hung up with Ward, the speech nazi, right?”

Kiros looked up as Laguna entered the room, “Yeah. He was fussy about telling the populous that we have aliens in our city. At least aliens as unique as Fran seems to be. So I’m changing it a bit.” He finished writing his sentence and then handed it over to Laguna, “What do you think?”

“Hah, as if he thinks I’m not just gonna mention it anyway.” Laguna took the written verses from Kiros, reading them over contently. “Yeah, this looks great as always. Thanks.” He handed the paper back, sure that his friend probably had some final touches he wanted to make and would want to run it by Ward again. “What’s Ward up to, by the way? Was surprised when he didn’t come with us and haven’t had a chance to pop in yet…”

After a short while, Dr. Odine had set all the life support systems back to their original statuses, save for the extra bit of oxygen being provided to the female’s lungs. As the nurse came in to handle Balthier, the scientist made her aware of his intentions, having already packed up the bit of equipment he had brought. “I need to take ze data I collected back to my lab for analysis. I vill be back tonight vith ze proper equipment to begin repairs.” With that, he hastily turned and exited. Everything was fine now, but he still needed to make haste, as Fran’s body wasn’t going to hold together forever and the neural massage only temporarily revived bundles of neurons which were still in need of proper repair and would only last so long in the meantime.

Kiros grinned, “That’s what I told him!” He chuckled, “But he’s always gotta be politically correct.” He took the paper back as he stood up, “He was out overseeing the salvagers. Wanna come with me while I have him check it over again?”

“Sure” Laguna chuckled, “That way I can tell him personally to take his politically correctedness and shove it.” He patted Kiros on the back and motioned towards the door. “Lead the way.” 

Kiros smirked and headed to the elevator that took them to the Palace entrance. Then he walked the block or so to the crash site. Luckily Ward was still there, helping to lift out the bulk of the airship. They had cut away the parts of the street that it had been buried in and dug under the ship as well to find purchase that wouldn’t damage the craft more.

“Ward!” Kiros waved an arm at him as he shouted down to him, “Can you look this over again?”

The large man looked up and waved an arm back before nodding to the men around him. They heaved and some smaller people wiggled under the craft placing large leather belts under the ship so they could lift it out with the crane. Once everything was set they cleared out and the crane began to slowly haul the airship into the air.

Ward wandered over to his two friends, nodding his head at Laguna and taking the paper from Kiros. He tilted his head, then looked up at Kiros and Laguna, shook his head with a sigh and handed the speech back. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.

Kiros chuckled, “I told you he’d mention it anyway.”

Laguna giggled at Ward’s expressions and Kiros’ translation of it. “You know me, bud. I can’t lie to these people. They’re adults they can handle a little weird information.” He patted his large, mute friend on the shoulder, happy to finally get a chance to catch up with the man after how busy they had all been recently.

“So how’s it goin’ out here?” Laguna watched the airship being lifted, so far pleased with how it all was going. Everyone did their job so well and moved so fast, he was proud of his city. His fingers wove together behind his own head as he stood there, impressed with it all.

Ward nodded and gave a rare smile before going back to directing the salvage. Kiros chuckled again, “So, Mister President, when’s this press conference supposed to be tonight?”

“7 o’clock sharp, right as primetime starts. We missed the chance to get in for the 6 o’clock news apparently.” Laguna stretched, yawning loudly before turning away from the scene and back to Kiros. “Think after that I might grab some chow and head home for the night. Pretty sure half of Esthar will be ready to turn in early after today…I know Ward at least is busy tonight, but some night this week, you, me and him gotta get together for some drinks. Take a day off of playing Government, ya know?”

Kiros nodded, “Sounds good. After the conference and perhaps food as well, I think I’ll head over to the hospital.” Kiros couldn’t get the grisly sight of the two bodies lying on the ground out of his mind. He needed to see for himself that they were really going to be okay.

It wasn’t long before Dr. Odine arrived at the hospital once more, this time with a few assistants following carrying boxes full of various scientific and medical equipment. Once he was all set up, it was a mere few hours before he was confident that the female would at least be able to handle her pain and could be safely awakened once more. “She vill need a night ov rest before I can proceed vith tomorrow’s procedures.” He explained to the now-awake Balthier who’s own bed and equipment had been neatly set up directly next to Fran’s by the attending nurse earlier. “For tonight, I vill vake her from her drug-induced coma zo you and her may conversate, and zo her body may sleep naturally.” The viera’s body, although still in need of much help, had already shown amazing toughness and healing potential. The scientist was more hopeful now than he had ever been with a patient. “Do you have any questions?”

Balthier had nightmares of Fran dying without him, of him dying and she having to live without him, of them dying in a strange place among strangers - their friends to never know what happened to them. Nightmares filled with beeping machines and robed individuals who kept telling him conflicting things ‘You’re going to make it.’ ‘We’re losing her!’ ‘You’re both going to be fine.’ ‘Pull the plug, there’s nothing more we can do.’ ‘Hurry! Get me 3 CC’s of…’. It was horrible. He woke to Dok Odine fiddling with more equipment. Once the small man? was done he turned to him and explained what he was going to try and do. Balthier nodded, he understood that the scientist felt that Fran could tolerate the amount of pain her body was in now. That she was patched up enough to allow her body to start mending on its own. He only had one question though, “Do you know how long it will take us to get back on our own feet again?”

“Anxious to get back to ze sky, iz it?” Dr. Odine blessed the male with a rare smile, recognizing the look in his eyes. “Do not fret, you and your lady friend vill be skyvorthy in no time. She vill experience pain for a while, as vill you, though to not such an extent...but ze both of you show amazing healing potential, and so long ze procedure tomorrow goes as expected, ze both of you can valk out of here I vould say vithin a few days.” The scientist picked a small syringe up from the medical tray near Fran’s bed, poking the end of it into the valve on her IV, ready to start. He looked up to her face, bruised and beaten with an expression of pain. The loss of the greater top portion of her left ear had been the greatest visible damage to her head and left her looking very...unbalanced. He knew, even more than the broken limbs and other significant wounding that she would likely focus upon it the most. “And just so you know...ze prosthesis vill be ready tomorrow as vell. It vill look and move just as ze original.” The male pushed the plunger on the syringe down, emptying it’s contents into Fran’s IV completely. He took a step back, setting the needle back on the tray and folding his arms. “She vill be awake in a moment. Be there for her.”

Balthier watched as the scientist moved about the room, it wasn’t so much that he wanted to have the Strahl in the air again - though he did - it was more that he didn’t want them to be dependant on other people any longer than necessary. Especially people they didn’t know. As the scientist continued to explain that they should be fine and he was going to wake up Fran now. Oh and she was getting whatever a ‘prosthesis’ was and apparently ‘it would move like the original’. He had no idea what the small man was talking about. “Yes sir, mister bossy sir.” Balthier rolled his eyes at them man. Of course he was going to be there for her! How could anyone think he wouldn’t be? He turned his attention to Fran and watched with bated breath as she woke.

Odine shook his head at the other’s words. Not one for details. That was fine, he hated explaining himself anyway. Then again he hadn’t thought to ask himself if Balthier had even had a chance to notice the missing piece of Fran’s ear before her head had been bandaged. From the sound of it, no. No matter. His eyes looked towards the viera once more, and as she began to stir, he turned towards the exit. There was likely a private reunion in order, and he didn’t feel like being around for it. Anyway he had work to do. “Have ze nurses call if anything changes.” He exited, heading once again for his laboratory.

Fran had been in and out during her ‘sleep’. She’d heard random words here and there, some sounds, but nothing really comprehensible. She’d seen nothing but darkness, her eyes not having opened since going out. Her thoughts had simply failed to form, but the pain, while much duller, had been ever-present. While she couldn’t really comprehend it, she’d in a way been awake the whole time. Slowly she began to stir, thoughts beginning to make themselves present in her subconscious. Her right eye opened first, blinking a bit before being followed by the left. Her eyelids fluttered as she attempted to adjust to the light, but everything seemed to remain foggy. Her mind began to process the pain, just a bit at a time, and although it was intense...it was manageable and she didn’t give it much of a reaction. Unwilling to move much, but knowing he would be near, she spoke, ”Captain…”

“I’m here.” Balthier smiled over at her as she finally came to. “How are you feeling?”

Fran slowly shook her head, “Alive.” She returned the smile, happy to hear Balthier alive, her fingers stretching out trying to locate his. “Happy.”

Balthier smiled and reached a hand over to her, gripping her reaching fingers gently. “I’m glad you’re alright. I honestly don’t think I could live without you.”

Fran’s smile widened slightly at the irony, “...and I could not bear to die without you.” She grasped Balthier’s hand firmly, feeling pain in her thinly-casted forearm seem to echo through the rest of her body. Unwilling to let the state of her body prevent her from showing affection for the male, she began to stir again, slowly pulling herself up to her side, ignoring the various casts, IVs, and other medical equipment attached to her body. She moved to the side of her bed, laying fully on her side and half-pulling her Captain towards her, wrapping her damaged arms around him in a painful, loving embrace. She allowed a single tear to escape her left eye and fall down her cheek as she clung to her beloved anchor to this life. Neither could possibly die without permission, and neither would ever be willing to grant it...as long as they had each other, they were immortal. Suddenly, a question needed to be ask. One which had been lingering there all along, ignored due to the other important matters at hand, but important nonetheless. “What happened to us?”

Balthier smiled and allowed himself to be pulled into the tender embrace, moving himself over to get himself closer so Fran did not need to move so much. She was after all more damaged than he was. He kissed her forehead gently, “Well apparently we crashed through a street. I’m not entirely sure what that means. I haven’t seen more of this Esthar we appear to be in than my room, the hallways and this room. But the President of this city said I would understand when I saw it.” He draped an arm over her waist gently, allowing his fingers to play in her long hair. “That scientist guy doktor Odine, the small man, not sure if you’ve actually seen him yet… but he says we should both be up and about in a few days. So long as ‘ze procedure ‘e az planned for tomorrow’ goes well.” Balthier adopted the doktor’s crazy way of speaking as he quoted him. “I can’t wait to be free again.” He kissed her forehead again before carefully resting his own against it.

Fran managed a light, pained giggle at Balthier’s impression of the man’s voice. She was beginning to remember snippets of what had been going on while she’d been in her strange coma and his imitation of the person’s way of speaking had been spot on. Each kiss on the forehead seemed to warm her and drive back some of the hurt, and she never wanted to move. “So it was a street…” She mused, “...I had thought we’d nearly met our fate at the hands of a giant mechanical lightning bug. A street seems...disappointing.” She found herself unable to fully focus her left eye and simply closed it, her still-open one matching the gaze of her Captain. Her casted hand moved upwards to meet his cheek, her bare fingers brushing it lightly, trembling just a bit from weakness. “As long as I am with you I am free…”

Chuckling lightly as Fran explained that a street was disappointing Balthier kissed her forehead once more. “Yes, well it appears that the Strahl is in tatters, but the President is hopeful of its recovery as well. We’ll be out of here soon and can see to it ourselves.”

The sky did seem nice, but Fran honestly didn’t care, she was right where she wanted to be. She closed her other eye, smiling softly, not really ready to sleep but too comfortable to ward away her tiredness forever. “Good.” Before she could pass out completely, a strange beeping noise startled her and both eyes popped open once more. The viera released Balthier from her embrace and laid back in her bed, closing her blurry eye again more and locating the TV, the source of the sound.

After a few seconds of beeping, the TV screen flickered to life, Laguna’s face appearing. The male was standing behind a podium with members of the press gathered quietly to his front. A female announcer’s voice rang out at a decent volume with a short announcement. “This is an announcement from President Loire about today’s events. This is not an emergency. We apologize for the interruption and your normal scheduled programming will resume shortly. Thank you.” Immediately thereafter, the President’s speech began.

“Ladies and gentleman. Boys and girls. Everyone else...Today, we all experienced something. None of us really understood it, many of us may not even remember it, but the fact is, it happened, and it happened to all of us.” The male had….obviously misplaced his written speech. “Other Governments and Townships across the globe are probably having similar speeches. Some of them, such as Balamb, like me are attempting to tell the truth to the best of their ability. Other’s like Galbadia are likely trying to get everyone to write it off as a gas leak or something dumb like that. Fact is, we’re all completely ignorant to what the hell happened. What I do know is this. Thanks to the efforts of a small group of people who I will not name at this time and who, should they so choose, can tell the story to you all with a much finer degree of accuracy and get the hero’s praise they deserve...the war is over. I want to say we won, but regardless of past speeches, you all know how I feel about that. When it comes to war, nobody wins. Regardless, there is no more fighting, and that is cause for celebration. The feeling we all felt earlier...I don’t know details, there’s not a lot who do, but what I can tell you is that we wouldn’t be standing here right now if it hadn’t been stopped, but it was, and it will never happen again. The reign of sorceresses has come to an end.” Laguna took a deep breath and gave the cameras a smile. “Now, many of you saw and felt a bit of a disturbance earlier right after the strange feeling. It was loud, it caused a lot of damage, but I’m pleased to say that nobody was killed. As it turns out...the thing that crashed in the streets was a vessel, an airship to be precise, named the Strahl. As far as we know according to witness reports it simply appeared in the sky and fell to earth. We are not sure if this has anything to do with today’s sorcery events...but it seems more than likely. One thing we have become certain of, however, is that this airship, as well as its occupants, are not from our world. This technically means we have just made first contact with extraterrestrial life.” He felt a bit of relief at succesfully remembering and pronouncing the word extraterrestrial… “As exciting as this sounds, these people did not come here on purpose, and we believe it was the events going on here in our world that brought them here. Their ship is wrecked, they’re injured, and they may need our help. It is our responsibility to make them feel welcome here until we can help them find a way to get home. That is why I’m asking that the media as well as other outlets and well...crazy space people in general...all just keep their distance and leave them alone. Should they wish to be interviewed, they can contact you directly. Yes, they speak our language. Cool, right? Anyway...let’s wrap this up, I know many of you want to get back to your shows. Are there any questions?”

The machine across the room activated out of nowhere and suddenly the man he’d met earlier who claimed to be the President of Esthar was seen on it. He was talking about something weird that happened on this planet shortly before he and Fran appeared. There had been a rather strange feeling before they were suddenly crashing into the blue light - road, whatever it is or was - he wondered if the President would tell him more about it if he asked. As Balthier watched the machine several people began raising their hands as the President finished speaking.

“Yes mister President, could you explain this ‘strange feeling’ in more detail? Perhaps tell us what it was like for you? Or is there someone else who could tell us so that we can decide if we felt it or not?” A middle aged woman with a strange cylinder in her hand asked him.

A dark haired man shouted across the crowd, “What exactly do we know about these ‘visitors’? Are they dangerous? How is it that they speak the common language when they aren’t even from our planet? Are we sure they haven’t had us under surveillance and simply decided to use this ‘strange feeling’ we experienced as an excuse to finally make contact?”

Many other people could be seen nodding to each of these people’s questions, seemingly agreeing that they were important things to ask. The crowd quieted a bit as they waited for the President’s answers.

Fran simply watched, curious as to just what it is that had been going on in this world. This President seemed…..nice…..but as much as she appreciated the way he seemed to be handling their visit personally, she didn’t feel just from listening to him speak that he was...leader material.

“For me...I’m not sure, I could describe the feeling as a headrush followed by some pulling...I’m sure that stands weird but for anyone who felt what I did I’m sure you get it. We will have much more for you about it all later, for now I can’t give you much. Like I said, we’re all pretty clueless ourselves.” The President was sort of annoyed by the second question and almost didn’t want to answer. “As for our visitors...we’re pretty sure anyone coming here with any malicious intent wouldn’t crash their ship and nearly kill themselves. We don’t know much because there is only two of them, and one’s been in and out of consciousness while the other one’s barely clung to life. In the meantime we’re not going to treat crash survivors like criminals until they’ve given us a reason to do so. Judging others before giving them the chance to prove themselves is not how we do things in Esthar and frankly...I’m sort of offended you would ask me that without good reason.”

“Adel isn’t a good enough reason? She was shipwrecked on our shores and we took her in, then she maliciously overthrew our government and started a war that only ended when YOU came here to save your adopted daughter from her. Because of you we were able to seal her and her evil powers away. But then Galbadia set her free! And another Sorceress inherited her powers. How are we to know what’s what anymore?” The man answered him to many nodding heads.

Laguna stared the man down, addressing him directly. “Yes, that’s right, ME. I fixed it all, along with my insanely amazing friends. We’re getting old now, but trust me when I say we can still handle ourselves. Our heroes who saved the day today...they are much tougher than Kiros, Ward, and I ever were. Much smarter too. They can handle ANYTHING that is thrown their way. Reassurances don’t matter though because in the end it comes down to a simple question. Are you the type of person who would have seen Adel injured and dying on our shores and just left her there? Out of fear? Since when are we afraid of anything?”

Balthier notice no few ashamed faces in the crowd and the man nodded his head, “You’re right. But are those heroes your exalting here, right now? We shouldn’t judge people before we know what they could be capable of. And I’m sorry I let the effects of the recent and past wars affect my judgement. But fear dies a slow, slow death.”

Kiros spoke up from the side of the podium where Laguna stood, “It’s alright to be scared. We wouldn’t be human if things didn’t scare us. But we don’t know much about our visitors, they only crashed today after all. I’m sure there will be another such conference once we know more. And whereas the President felt lightheaded and a pulling sensation, I felt rather squished, like every part of me was being crushed and stretched at the same time. But unlike most of the planet, I knew that something was coming. The Sorceress Ultimecia was from the future and she wanted to possess Adel and be thrown back into the past by Ellone in order to complete a spell called Time Compression. Where everything past, present, and future would be squished together and cease to exist. Only her certain area was to be exempt. This was stopped by some young SeeDs. And if this event had something to do with how our guests arrived on our planet, it may take more time than we would like to get them safely home again.”

Balthier’s face fell, so they would be better, but they wouldn’t be getting home any time soon.

Laguna’s expression softened as Kiros took over, and he was glad to have the male going over many of the things he’d forgotten from the lost speech and he’d never really made sense of before. He could see the crowd was still sort of tense and decided then that it was time to start wrapping things up and try to lighten them up as well. “Thank you, Kiros. To the man who wrote the speech I lost on the way here.” There was a soft bit of laughter from the crowd and he could feel the tension already beginning to soften. “He’s right though, we will surely hold further press conferences and such as soon as we know more. Should our heroic young SeeDs desire the spotlight, you will learn of them soon. Should they wish to remain anonymous, they will still be debriefed and all of you will know everything they do. I’ve always stood for transparency and would never willingly do anything I thought would bring you any harm. You’ve all trusted me and my friends until now, and we would never do anything to test that trust. Now...if there are no other questions, it has been a long day for all of us and I’m sure everyone is ready to relax and call it a night. I for one want to visit our new friends one last time at the hospital then go to bed.” 

Balthier turned to Fran, “Apparently we will shortly have visitors.” He grinned down at her before kissing her forehead again.

Kiros watched as the press filter it’s way out of the room and turned to Laguan, “So now what? Ward said that they found all of the parts they could of the Strahl, but with it being foreign technology they aren’t sure how it’s supposed to go back together. So we’ll have to wait on our friends to recover before we can start on their craft. I’ll go with you if you’re really heading over to the hospital, I’ve been wanting to check on them for myself. But I thought you wanted to get dinner first?”

“I did, but…” Laguna sighed some as he spoke with Kiros. “...I dunno, some of the people’s reactions. Sort of gave me a bad feeling. People are scared and rightfully so I suppose...I guess I mostly just want to keep an eye on them than anything. Figured I could grab some hospital food, and well...maybe see if they had an extra bed I could use.” The male knew there were plenty of security guards who would have no problem keeping an eye on the couple, but when he had that feeling he just had no choice but to personally stick his nose in it. Kiros would understand, no need for an explanation. “But yeah, let’s go ahead and head there together then. Odine updated me earlier and said the female would be awake soon so we’ll finally get to meet her too.”

Fran smiled at the warm kiss on her forehead, nodding with a bit of a yawn and once again turning to rest her head against the male’s comfortably. “I’m so honored…” She mused, “...I get to meet the ‘president’.” She had been completely unimpressed by the speech whether the man had defended her and Balthier or not.

Balthier chuckled, “Yeah President Loire doesn’t really seem like the best ‘leader’ ever. But he does seem to be a rather caring individual. So there’s that at least. It was him and if my memory is serving me correctly that other man, Kiros, who found us in the first place. I recall yelling at them to get out of my ship.”

He chuckled again and was about to suggest that she get some more rest when a nurse came in pushing a cart with two trays on it. “Oh! Looks like we get food. Are you hungry? Or in too much pain?” He looked Fran over with worried eyes, just now noticing that half of one of her precious ears was missing. “Oh my.” He blinked for a moment before gathering himself again and looking away. He wasn’t sure how Fran was going to take that when she found out about it. Suddenly he asked the nurse, “What exactly is a ‘prosthesis’?”

The nurse looked up from her trays, “A prosthesis? Hmmm, did you hear it from Dok Odine?” At Balthier’s nod she continued, “Well he probably meant a prosthetic. He plans on repairing her ear? with it. So that her hearing and such will not be damaged by the loss. It simply replaces what is missing with a replica that works the same as the original.” She moved over to them, “I’ll help you sit up if you’d like, so that you can eat.”

Balthier nodded and mumbled to himself, “So that’s what he meant.” He waved her away and sat up himself, not requiring help, though it still hurt quite a lot and he was slow moving. “What are we eating?”

Fran chuckled a bit hearing how Balthier had yelled at the President...it sounded so typical. She opened her mouth for a joke but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of food followed by the male’s excitement for it. His questions about her state caused her cheeks to redden slightly in a blush, sort of embarrassed about being in such a weak state. She hated having people worry for her, especially her Captain. She blinked when his expression changed, growing concerned at the words ‘oh my’. The viera sat up, as quickly as her battered body would allow, her hands moving upwards in the direction the male’s eyes had found the concerning sight. Upon making contact with her left ear, or rather what was left of it, she winced, releasing an almost inaudible squeal of pain, the sting, as well as the realization in general, caused her eyes to well up with tears. The talks of a prosthesis or prosthetic...did she look so horrifying? She felt herself growing sick to her stomach, partially from the food smell, and made eye contact with the male once more as she answered. “I...I’m not very hungry…”

At the pained sound and the wounded look in Fran’s eyes Balthier felt a surge of panic. “Oh Love, it’s alright! You’re beautiful. And I’m sure if you don’t want the dok to give you a new ear you can tell him so. Are you nauseous from the smell or the panic? Because if it’s fear the food will probably help. Otherwise the food could just make you sick, and I don’t want you throwing up and hurting yourself more in the process.”

The nurse piled pillows up behind the both of them, “There is more mashed potatoes with gravy on the side. Water to drink, and bread rolls with sticks of butter if you want them. There are grapes and yogurt as well. And if you would like I can go and have the cook make you some kind of meat dish - steak, chicken, fish?”

The sudden influx of concerned words caught Fran off guard, and she quickly moved past being embarrassed about her state and was unable to hide a soft chuckle. Of course it didn’t matter to Balthier, what he saw in her had nothing to do with her physical appearance and she knew it. Still though, even if it was just the pain causing it, she still felt slightly ill. Her body was in a lot more pain than it was allowing her to experience, and thinking about it, sitting up so fast had probably been a bad idea. Just moving to cuddle with Balthier had probably even been a bad move. The nurse began naming various food items which started making it worse, and she just shook her head, almost unable to properly answer the multiple lines of concerned questioning, instead just laying back into the fresh pile of pillows stacked behind her, giving her back a break. “That is okay, thank you miss. What you brought is fine.” She turned her head towards Balthier, “It’s just the pain I think, Captain...I will eat soon...I just need a moment.”

Balthier nodded, “I quite agree. What is here already is suitable. Thank you very much.” He watched as the nurse pushed tables over their legs and placed the trays of food upon them.

“I’ll just leave them where you can reach them when you would like to eat. If you need anything else, just press this button here.” She pointed to a blue circle on the side of their beds, “It will alert the nurse on duty.” After that she left the room.

Balthier reached over and pulled his table closer to him and pulled Fran’s over as well. He reached for her glass, “You should drink something at least.” He offered it to her, fully aware that she may not be able to hold it herself and willing to be her hands.

Fran chuckled weakly as Balthier offered her a drink. ‘I am officially less capable than a 3 year old…’ She thought to herself, glad for the nurse to be leaving...one less person to have to witness her in this state. It had moved past being a blow to her pride at this point and had just become….funny really. She looked to her Captain’s face, wanting to say something. She wanted to tell him...to set it back down...so she could get it herself. But the thin, plastic casts covering her arms and the idea of bearing any sort of weight just made it seem...impossible. With a heavy and defeated sigh, she nodded, deciding to embrace the care. Who needed pride...even the infamous viera could take a day or two of pampering and deal with it. She leaned forward, pressing her lips to the glass and taking a small drink as the male tipped it for her carefully. Smiling after a painful yet instantly relieving swallow. She closed her eyes, leaning back into her pillows once more, enjoying the feeling of the comfortable bed and the cool water currently breaking up her throat’s previous dryness. “Thank you, Balthier…” She spoke quietly, using the male’s name in a rare gesture, typically preferring to use his title instead.

He watched as the emotions washed over her face: pain, annoyance, resignation, and finally gratitude. He smiled softly at her when she used his name, “You are very welcome my dear.” He placed her glass back on her tray and began eating his food. Balthier felt all warm and fuzzy inside from the simple use of his name. But it was different when said by someone who never uses it, especially when that someone is a person you care for deeply.

Kiros nodded at his friend and began the trek to the elevator that would take them to the street, then hailed a cab, waiting for Laguna to get in first.

Laguna slid into the cab, waiting for Kiros to get in after. His face was expressionless as his mind dwelled more and more on the questions he was asked at the conference. It hadn’t seemed bad at the time...but the seeds of bigotry had been sewn, and to his dismay had already began to garner support before he’d even managed to get his first answer in. This wasn’t the time nor place to be a new, unknown face...the President had to make sure these two got home soon.

Fran smiled, almost able to see the warmth Balthier felt when hearing his name. She loved making her Captain happy. As twisted as it sounded, she almost wished the roles were reversed so she could be the one feeding him, helping him drink, and being overly nurturing and affectionate as possible.


	4. Visiting Hours

Kiros hopped into the cab and told the cabby to head to the Hospital. He wasn’t liking the look on his friend’s face however. “What’s on your mind?” Though he could guess. He knew it would take far more than just words to calm the fear brutal dictatorship had instilled in the people of Esthar.

“Whaddya think it would take…” Laguna started in response to his friend’s question, choosing not to really address it directly. “...to get a steam powered air...boat...to a planet we’ve never heard of that for all we know could be located in another universe?” He grinned heartily, sort of taking the statement which had sounded so depressing in his head as a challenge upon hearing himself say it out loud. “....and how soon d’ya think we can get it ready?” 

Fran turned her head towards Balthier, a serious look in her good eye, the one producing a fuzzy picture still closed so she could see clearly. She’d had a realization. The viera recognized the sick feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t from her body’s damage, it wasn’t from the food’s smell or the hospital surrounding. It wasn’t even from remembering the strange doctors voice or being so incredibly unimpressed with whom the people of this alleged ‘city’ had chosen to be their President. No, it wasn’t any of that, it was simple land sickness. At least, land sickness was the term attributed to the feeling she got when forced to share her and her companion’s alone time with others. She’d grown to be somewhat...possessive over the years. “Captain…” She spoke, her tone almost pleading. “I’m ready to go.” She was far from ready to go and she knew it...but regardless of the near-fact that she’d likely just die in his arms as he tried to carry her out, she would allow it if it meant she could taste the sky by his side once more right now.

Kiros gave Laguna a look for partially avoiding his question, but answered him anyway. “Well as soon as we can get the two of them walking around, I don’t doubt that their ship will be ready to go rather quickly. After all, they are the ones who know how it works. We’re very lucky they survived.’ He looked out the window as the hospital came into view, “However, getting back through space and time if necessary will be a whole other achievement.”

Balthier looked over at her, he understood what she meant when she said she was ready to go. “We’ll be skyborn again soon enough. We are going to get better first. I realize that you won’t like that idea very much, but I need you to be better. How could I enjoy the skies alone?” His eyes and tone of voice begged her to stay with him through all of this. “The doktor said we would be fully recovered...or at least able to get around on our own if a couple of days. I’m sure we can manage that. Though the Strahl may take even longer.” He pouted a bit but then brightened, “Though we could always “borrow” something and head for the sky, at least for a while, while we work on the Strahl.”

Laguna made a disregardful face at Kiros’ uninspiring words. “Come on, even if steam technology hasn’t been around for who knows how long, there’s plenty of books and stuff on it. We have Esthar City engineers at our disposal, we could probably have the thing have finished being fixed by the time they get to see it again!” The male was really motivated, and looking at things realistically had never been his strong suit.

“I can get around on my own now.” Fran stated in a desperate huff. She looked down at her battered, casted body, not letting the sight dissuade her. She sat up and moved her legs off the side of the bed, wincing a bit, not really having tried to move them yet but definitely feeling the pain. Still unwilling to stop, she spoke again. “Come, let us find something to ‘borrow’.” She looked back at her Captain, forcing a smile, knowing he wasn’t letting her go anywhere but ready to attempt to drag him along anyway. She didn’t want to stick around for when that sloppy President showed up, and especially didn’t want to still be there in the morning when the one with the creepy voice came back to touch and prod at her some more. 

Kiros snorted, “Our version of steam power sure. But I’m rather certain theirs will be different. After all, we never made planes with it and they obviously have.” He got out of the taxi as it pulled up to the hospital. “Let’s grab some food and go see our guests.”

“Hey now, if you’ve got all that energy, eat something. I forbid you to weaken yourself by not eating simply because you miss flying.” He continued eating his own food, “Besides, this bed is rather comfortable and whether you are or not, ‘I’ am rather tired. I don’t particularly want to talk to the President again, he’s rather… what’s a good word for it? Umm, hmmm,” He tsked before thumping one hand into the other, “Ah-ha! He’s rather ‘excitable’ shall we say. He reminds me a lot of Vaan really. All big dreams and not thinking things through before doing them. But obviously he gets things done or he wouldn’t still be President. Or perhaps the people here simply like having a push-over for their leader. This Adel person was obviously not to their liking.”

He gave Fran a long look, “Now get your beautiful battered body back on that bed. It’s unheard of for a ship’s Engineer to be more battered than it’s Captain, simply intolerable!”

Fran finally gave in, listening to Balthier’s words, pulling her legs back into the bed with a long sigh. A pout would have been upon her lips if she had allowed it. Her damaged arms folded across her chest and she leaned into her pillows once more, looking at her food. The stomach sickness began to dissipate again now that she was under direct orders from her Captain to remain grounded. “Yes, Captain.” She responded quietly, giving him a lovingly hateful glance. “If you desire that I consume more food, however. You’re going to have to feed it to me.” As much as the viera hated being tended to like that, if she couldn’t escape this strange purgatory then she at least wanted all of the male’s attention.

“Bah, we’ve shot giant metal monster into space with OUR technology. I’m sure our guys can figure it out…” Laguna wanted to make it an order. He wanted to say ‘Assemble our best guys!’ and go oversee the work personally, but he remembered a half dead pilot, spotting him upon his ship...so offended. With a sigh he shook his head, dismissing the idea. He stepped out of the taxi after Kiros. “But I guess you’re right, we should wait for them. Food it is then, what’re we eatin’?” 

Balthier grinned at Fran happily as she repositioned herself on her bed. “That’s alright my dear, I’m sure I can manage to feed you without getting food everywhere.” He winked at his partner before leaning over to her tray and taking the lid off of her mashed potatoes and then the gravy. Then he plucked a grape from the bowl and held it up to her lips. “Honestly, taking care of you would be my pleasure.”

Kiros cringed a bit as they walked into the hospital, “Well obviously hospital food.” He shuddered slightly, his one weakness was hospitals, he was honestly terrified of them. The people in these walls held Life and Death in their hands. And while he trusted them while he needed treatment, he was never so happy as when he got to leave. He moved over to the cafeteria and looked the place over. A young woman behind the counter smiled at him, “Can I help you with anything?”

“Ahh, um, what do you have to eat here?”

“Oh! Well, there are hot dogs, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato salad, corn, green beans, chocolate pudding, chocolate fudge and peanut butter fudge; you can make hot tea or hot chocolate or coffee, there is a soda fountain and several different juices to choose from. We have a honey glazed ham that we could cut for you and there is chicken as well. Or you could order whatever you want and wait while we make it up?” The woman answered him.

“Ahh, thank you. I’ll take some mashed potatoes and gravy and ham, ooh, and potato salad. I’ll make myself some coffee.” He turned to Laguna, “What would you like Leader?”

Fran felt herself warm slightly at Balthier’s words and her eyes shot him a playful youth as she took the grape between her teeth, careful not to bite his fingers but intentionally letting her lips contact them briefly before chewing the grape and swallowing. There were other things she couldn’t wait to get back to as well. They had just successfully completed a mission right before the mishap after all and had not yet been able to properly celebrate, not that it was likely that any of their plundered possessions had survived intact. A thought suddenly occurred and she felt the need to verbalize it once she’d swallowed her grape. “What if our accident had nothing to do with what was happening on this planet? We were being pursued after all...maybe...some new technology?”

Laguna chuckled lightly, knowing Kiros wasn’t a fan of hospitals but watching his face light up at the sight of the hospital menu. He had to admit, it was way better than he thought. “Some hotdogs and a ton of fudge.” He smiled, his hand going for his wallet. “Like all the fudge ya got made up. And some bags!”

A slow sultry smile graced Balthier’s lips as Fran’s own lips grazed his fingers, but her question made him frown. “I certainly hope not. That would be most inconvenient. But it could be a possibility I suppose. We’ll see if we can’t get back home at some point with what these people can do first before we suggest something like that to them though shall we? No need to send these people into more of a panic over us and where we come from.” He gestured to her potatoes and gravy, “Would you like that mixed together? And would you like any of it at all?” He was still worried about her getting sick.

Kiros grinned as Laguna order and made his coffee, “Do you want any coffee? Or would you like something else?” He moved up to the counter once his coffee was to his liking and paid for his own meal, gratefully taking the to-go box the woman had put it in as he turned to face his friend.

“You are right, as always my Captain.” Fran’s tone was sincere, as the seemingly simple people of this planet were already having a hard enough time as it was dealing with the pair without her adding extra variables to the equation. Her engineer mind moved to dwell further on the subject when she was interrupted by Balthier, asking about the food once more. The single grape had gone down fine, it seemed...so it might be worth trying something else. The potatoes and gravy were suspicious though. Were they in fact what they seemed to be? Or were they some strange alien object that happened to look the same? The grapes had been the same...but both of these substances had been produced from other items, and it wasn’t improbable that something other than a potato could be squished into a white paste and something other than gravy mix could be turned into a brown soup. Her Captain hadn’t seemed to mind his food though, and she trusted him, so...hesitantly she nodded, deciding just to eat whatever he gave her without protest. “Mixing them would be easier for you I think. Thank you.”

“Oh yeah, a drink…” Laguna shook his head at the thought of coffee. Too late at night, it’d make him too jittery. “Fountain drink please!” Once being told the total for the meal, not worrying about the price of all the fudge, he paid swiftly, taking his cup and meeting Kiros by the drinks, adding a bit of each soda like a child as the male made up his coffee and they waited for their meal. “So Odine’s definitely gone by now, right?”

“Are you making fun of me Fran?” Balthier asked as he mixed the gravy into the mashed potatoes before offering her a bite.

Kiros chuckled at Laguna’s antics as he seemed to bounce around the place with his usual energy. “Most likely. I’m sure that if he woke Fran he would want the two to have some time to themselves.” On a hunch he turned to the woman behind the counter again, “Do you know if our visitors have been taken dinner?”

She tilted her head and scrunched her eyes in thought for a couple seconds, “Oh, that Balthier fellow and his shipmate Fran? Yes, they were just recently taken food.”

“Good, good. Was Doktor Odine still with them?”

“Oh no, he left for his lab shortly after waking the woman from her induced coma.” She moved about finishing getting Laguna’s food ready, “Here you are Mr. President.”

Fran shook her head, chuckling softly. “No, Captain. I would never.” She had been, naturally, but it was more fun to deny it.

“Ah so she’s awake, good.” Laguna smiled as he took his food, moving all the fudge and extra bags into a separate bag and shoving one of the hotdogs in his mouth. “Ffhanksh” He thanked the lady through his stuffed mouth, taking the food over to a table and sitting down. He chewed off half the hot dog, grabbing the free end and swallowing, a little painfully. The male didn’t want to be rude and eat while walking or in front of the patients, but he also wanted to hurry, eager to see the two. “Wonder why Odine just left, figured he’d wanna ask questions and junk…” He spoke to Kiros as the male approached.

Balthier sat there with the spoon poised in the air a foot or so in front of Fran’s face and gave her a look. “Never is it? I see.” He sniffed delicately, “Are you wanting this?” He moved the spoon in circles taunting her.

Kiros shook his head at his President’s antics once more and thanked the woman for her help before following Laguna to the table and sat across from him. He opened his food and began to eat as well, “It’s not so surprising really.” He cut up his ham into several bite sized pieces and began to eat them. “I’m sure they’re both still rather banged up. And this is the first time they would be awake together in our world since shortly before they crashed.” He paused to eat some more and take a swallow of his coffee. “The man may not look it most of the time, but he is human. He probably felt that leaving them time together would be beneficial to their healing process.”

Fran’s nose wrinkled a bit in a cute smile as her eyes followed the spoonful of food. The playfulness was causing her body to relax a bit and as a result she was actually starting to feel hungry. “Yes please, Captain.” She responded, getting ready to try and catch it with her teeth if she didn’t get it soon.

“Ehh...he probably had to go off to work on whatever world-conquering device he keeps stashed in that damn collar.” Laguna replied lightheartedly before finishing off his first hotdog and starting on another. ‘Alone time’...sounded about right actually. He hadn’t really thought about it before. After chewing just enough to force himself to swallow he spoke once more. “Suppose we should keep our visit brief. Giving ‘em time alone actually probably isn’t a bad idea…”

Kiros nodded his head and simply finished his food. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Balthier smiled at her and sent the spoon to her mouth, “Here you are.”

Fran couldn’t help but release a small giggle at Balthier’s cuteness before eating the spoonful of food which was surprisingly good. “Mmmm…” Just like the grape it was just like back at home...only better.

Laguna nodded, having been ready all day. He shoved his last hotdog in his mouth almost completely, choking it down before finishing the last bit and standing, grabbing his bag of fudge and drink. “Ready.”

Kiros laughed at his friend, “There’s no need to choke yourself.” He stood up, taking his remaining coffee with him and headed for the main lobby. “So, where exactly are we going? Are they still in the ER or the CCU? Or do they have their own room?” Kiros had totally forgotten to ask in his anxiousness to see how they were doing. He figured with how badly the woman had been damaged that they would still have a room in the Critical Care Unit. And he could safely assume that the man was with her from what everyone had said of them so far. But he honestly didn’t know… and he was starting to get the willies from being in the hospital so long.

Balthier continued to smile at her and scooped out another bite. “It’s all much the same as home. It makes me wonder just how close or far our own world really is from this one. Are they far enough away in either time or space that they develop much the same, or are they so close that they do so?” He shrugged slightly, “I guess we’ll find out… or we’ll never know.”

“Uhh...Shit I dunno. I gotta run a quick errand though, figure out where they are and I’ll meet ya there!” With a quick wave and no explanation, Laguna ran off down the hall. He’d spotted the children’s ward sign and was heading in that direction, having spared himself the embarrassment of having Kiros present during his quick deed. Once arriving he stopped at the main receptionist’s desk for the wing, a big smile on his face as he plopped the large bag down on the surface, setting the extra pile of bags down next to it and childishly slurping a bit of soda through his straw before setting the cup down as well, opening up the main bag and distributing one of each into each bag.

“P...President Laguna?” The startled receptionist was new and hadn’t seen this sort of behaviour before, although she recognized the male from television. “W...wha..?”

“Help me bag these I’m in a hurry.” The President responded quickly, pushing half the empty bags to the receptionist who followed his order without question as if it had been some sort of Presidential decree. Once done, he smiled, resting his hands on his hips and admiring the pile of 50 or so bags of fudge how covering the poor woman’s desk. “Thank you, here.” He pulled a hundred gil from his wallet, handing it over to the female as a tip. “Sorry I’d help hand ‘em out but I gotta go visit someone. Just make sure everyone gets one and you and the nurses can get what’s left.” He pointed to a small pile of bags that had been folded shut in a different manner. “And those have two fudge and no peanut-butter cuz...you know...allergies or whatever. Save one of those for me if there’s any left please.” He flashed another smile before turning to leave in a hurry, stopping about halfway to the door. “Oh, I’m an idiot! Can you tell me which room Fran and Balthier are in? The um….’aliens’? I’m sure you know who I’m talkin’ about…”

“CCU” The now-ecstatic receptionist responded quickly. “Thank you!”

“No, thank you!” Laguna waved before heading out the door, not bothering to ask directions, just looking out for another sign.

Fran’s mind wandered back to the place she’d been before, the ‘limbo’ she’d experienced, Balthier’s words of being so far from home reminding her of how she’d felt then. The planet had expressed plainly that she did not belong here, and she’d had a sense then of how far from home they really were. “Who knows…” She spoke quietly, looking down at the lumps of her own legs under the blanket. As deep as the thought was, however, it didn’t affect her overall mood. “It matters not. All worlds have treasures. So long as we seek them together it matters not which world we explore.” She smiled softly, one hand reaching across her belly to grab her own wrist. “I always found Vaan to be quite annoying anyway.”

Balthier chuckled at her last statement, “Yes, he is a mite tiring. And we’ll be back in the skies, whichever skies, in a couple of days. We’ll see what kind of plunder this world has before we leave it at any rate.”

Kiros stood there blinking for several seconds as pure panic at being left alone in a hospital swamped him, but then his training kicked in and he walked over to the front desk. “Excuse me, could you direct me to where Balthier and Fran have been placed?”

The young man behind the counter smiled up at him, “Of course Sir! They are in room 8 of the CCU.” He answered after consulting his computer.

“Thank you very much.” Kiros turned and started walking away only to hear a light giggle. Turning back to the young man he saw him pointing to a sign that read CCU in the opposite direction. Embarrassed Kiros nodded his thanks and walked quickly in that direction.

He arrived in the CCU easily enough, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the room numbers or how to find them, so once again had to ask. He approached the reception desk for the CCU, “Um, I’m looking for room 8?”

The woman behind the counter smiled at him and pointed down the hallway to her right, “It’s just down this hallway and around the corner to the left.”

He nodded, “Thank you.” He walked quickly down the hallway and stopped outside the closed door to room 8. It didn’t sound as if Laguna was there yet, so he decided he would wait for the other man. It was no use prolonging his stay if the point was simply to ascertain if they were healing alright and then to leave them to themselves.

Fran smiled softly, nodding at Balthier’s reaffirmations. She couldn’t wait to see what treasures this world had to offer. In the meantime, however, she was still sort of hungry. “May I have another bite of whatever that last thing was, Captain?”

Laguna found Kiros in the CCU standing outside a room, still half-jogging until he was next to the male. He stopped, putting his hands on his knees and taking a moment to catch his breath before speaking, tilting his head towards the door. “This it?

“Of course.” Balthier turned back to their trays and scooped up another bite of mashed potatoes and gravy for her and produced the spoon for her enjoyment.

“Yep, this is it.” Kiros knocked on the door and waited for a response.

Bathier turned his head around to the door when he heard knocking, but kept the spoon where Fran’s mouth could reach it. “Apparently our guests have arrived.” He looked back over at her, “Should we get it over with?”

Fran ate the potatoes happily, lifting her arm to gently steady the spoon, her fingers resting on the back of Balthier’s hand. She swallowed before speaking, “I still don’t like this world much...but I must admit the food is really good.” She heard the door being knocked on and looked to Balthier, sighing a bit at the unwelcome presence. “I suppose…”

Laguna nodded, knocking lightly on the door. “Everybody dressed?” He joked as he pushed it open, stepping inside the room, the sight of the female which had been nothing more than a pile of broken body the last time he’d seen her brightening his expression.

The door opened either way so Balthier shrugged his shoulders, “Getting it over with it is.” He whispered. He turned to the door, “Hello mister President.”

Kiros shook his head at Laguna as the man entered the room without waiting for a response, his knocking having covered up any response made after his own knocking. But he followed the man inside. The man seemed to be perfectly fine, several shallow cuts could be seen on his face and arms where the medical gown showed his skin, but otherwise he seemed fine. The woman was much worse, half of one of what Kiros assumed were her ears was missing, she had bruising and deep cuts that were patched up with a clear sealant on her face and arms. Both of their hair seemed to be lightly charred, though there hadn’t seemed to be much fire at the scene, it may have just been a burst, which would also explain how they were thrown from the vehicle in the first place. Kiros was surprised to find that the man spoke is such cultured tones, it was like speaking with Edea. He wasn’t sure he liked that idea, magic never seemed to bode well here. “I’m glad to see the two of you conscious and capable of moving. You seemed rather bad off when we found you. I am Kiros Seagill, an old friend and current Aide for President Lorie.” He bowed to them slightly. He was embarrassed that they had interrupted them eating, the site of the man feeding the woman permanently burned into his retinas. It was cute.

“Glad to see you’re doing better, Balthier.” Laguna added after his Kiros was done introducing himself. “And glad to see you awake, miss.” He’d wanted to speak the words more excitedly but was keeping his tone low, having no idea what sort of state either of them may really be in. He could tell right away the female wanted nothing to do with him...but it didn’t matter, he’d met people before who didn’t appreciate those with his sort of attitude and disposition who had ended up in important leadership positions. They had their reasons, eventually she would come around like all the rest. For a moment he thought about going back and grabbing some more fudge…

Fran winced a bit as the President entered, not from any real physical pain...his presence really just seemed to bother her that much. Kiros followed directly after though and she perked up a bit. He’d been the aide during the speech. It seemed to her that this fellow was likely the one running the place behind the scenes. After all, Laguna himself said the male had written the speech he’d lost. She relaxed some after Kiros’ introduction, the simple professionalism of his tone bringing her relief that at least this city’s government had SOMEONE who was somewhat intelligent behind it. She found herself wanting to ignore Laguna completely, but...he WAS the President...and she and Balthier WERE guests in his city…”It’s nice to meet you both.” She replied, keeping her eyes on Kiros. “Thank you for your generosity.”

Balthier nodded to the both of them, “Yes, it’s nice to finally meet both of you. It was the two of you who found us, correct?”

Kiros smiled, they both seemed to be doing alright, that was a relief. He was slightly disconcerted by the woman’s gaze, but figured she’d made Laguna’s character already and didn’t like it much. It wasn’t so unusual, he still had problems corralling the man sometimes. But he was one of his best friends, and Kiros wouldn’t change him for the world. “Yes it was me and Laguna that you shouted at.” He chuckled at the memory of a nearly unconscious man with extreme wounds yelling at them to get off of his dilapidated ship. “I’m just glad to see that the both of you survived such a horrible crash. It didn’t look promising when we found you. Dok Odine has his uses though.”

Laguna was already out of the conversation. His hands were in his pocket as he took slow steps, checking out the room, going over every last detail and making sure that nothing was out of place. (At least as far as he’d be able to do.) He nodded in Balthier’s direction after the male’s question, letting Kiros answer for him as he stepped behind one of the monitors, checking out the wall outlet behind it. It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in the hospital workers...it was more for his own personal benefit. Things always went wrong and when they did he always liked to be prepared to get any and all blame off of himself. 

Fran’s gaze left Kiros and wandered towards Laguna as the President wandered around the room. She wondered what he was doing...he was obviously here for some official talking to of some sorts...why couldn’t he just get it over with? Why was he lingering and being so weird? Upon hearing Kiros’ answer to Balthier’s question, she turned her eyes back towards his face, a small smile upon her own. “Why were you yelling at the men who came to save us, Captain? I assume they were touching the Strahl in some manner?”

Balthier chuckled deprecatingly at his previous antics, “I recall they were inside it.” He was curious as to why Laguna had absented himself from the conversation - the man had after all announced on that screen, which Balthier assumed also appeared on other such devices, that he was going to visit them. And yet all he had sad was that he was glad they were looking better and that Fran was awake. And he was wandering around the room like newly minted thief who had no idea how awful he was at being sneaky. Again the man was reminding him of Vaan. He did however pick up on Kiros’s backhanded compliment to the man overseeing Fran’s rehabilitation. “I take it you do not particularly like Doktor Odine?”

Laguna bent down, poking at the wall outlet a sec, making sure nothing was loose or jiggly. After deciding he really had no idea what he was looking for, he finally stepped back out from behind the monitor, satisfied for the time being with the room’s conditions, and once again took his spot next to Kiros, wanting to interrupt his friend and answer Balthier with his own feelings about the doctor, but not wanting to upset anyone or give them the impression they were being given some sort of sub-standard care. He simply smiled as he waited for Kiros’ answer.

Fran’s eye twitched slightly as she watched Laguna jiggle at the electric outlet. With a soft sigh, not even wanting to know what he was up to, she laid her head back, looking up at the ceiling in an attempt to ignore the male. At Balthier’s answer to her question, she released a playful gasp, answering sarcastically, “Oh, how dare they…” A light chuckle escaped her lips, her head turning to watch Balthier as he asked his question, then turning back to eye Kiros, waiting for an answer. She hoped if there was any concern regarding the doctor that they would let it be known…

Balthier smiled at Fran’s response and shrugged his shoulders, it was his way after all. He was rather proud of the Strahl and didn’t like people in it uninvited.

“It’s a personal distaste really. He’s fantastic at his job and the top scientist in the world in his field. But occasionally his methods are questionable. It’s why we’re going to take a vested interest in your care. To make sure he doesn’t attempt something completely outlandish in the name of research. He’s done it before.” Kiros shook his head, “Plus, the way he speaks annoys me. And I don’t mean the accent, that I can handle.”

Balthier chuckled, “Yes, he does seem a bit condescending with his straightforwardness.” He didn’t like the idea of a radically minded scientist working on them, but if he was the best they had, they didn’t have much choice.

Although Fran didn’t show it, the idea of some ‘outlandish something’ being done to her in the name of research almost sounded interesting...like a bit of adventure she could enjoy while stuck in this morbid place. Perhaps there would be something more to this ‘prosthesis’ which had been spoken of earlier? “Out of curiosity…” she asked, “Can you be more specific as to what you mean by outlandish and questionable?” The question was again obviously directed towards Kiros.

Still having more than a few smart-assed contributions to add to the conversation but sensing that Kiros’ opinion would likely be of more value to the pair, Laguna simply continued to hold his tongue, letting his companion keep speaking. His hands were now behind his back, his thumbs twiddling together mindlessly.

Kiros looked from Balthier to Fran, “That’s one way of putting it. Well I know that when he was developing the ‘Memorial’ we stuck Adel in to restrain her powers and keep her dormant he tested his theories out on little kids who had Sorceress aptitudes. We were lucky we got to Ellone when we did, most of the children he experimented on died. And he couldn’t care so long as it advanced his research. The man annoys me.” He turned to look at Laguna, “Was there something you wanted to say to them Laguna? Or are you just going to be hyperactively creepy for the whole visit?” Kiros raised an eyebrow at him.

Balthier looked over at Fran as she asked her question, apprehension tightening his muscles, he knew that tone of voice. She always seemed to find things interesting when it meant potentially risking her life. Hearing Kiros’s explanation to her question made him feel even worse. “You are not allowed to suggest things that could get you killed Fran. You’re not allowed to die, remember?”

The thought of dead children had thoroughly turned Fran off to the idea of allowing the creepy scientist to perform any sort of weird procedures on her, and in fact she wasn’t completely sure she wanted the male doing even regular work on her from here on out. Consenting adults were one thing when it came to testing for scientific or engineering advancements but using children was something quite different. Disgusting. “Do not worry, captain.” She folded her arms over her chest, her expression somewhat of a scowl as she turned her head to look towards the wall, away from the three of them. She understood their disgust perfectly now but was failing to grasp how, no matter what good things might have come from it, they had failed to execute a man who would kill children.

The air around Fran had grown a bit tense and Laguna had definitely picked up on it. Upon her answer and Kiros’ question, he lifted his hand, scratching the back of his head, forcing a smile, trying to remain somewhat at ease. “Ahh, sorry bud...sounded like you had it all pretty much covered.” He nodded in the viera’s direction. “Plus I get the feeling she’d prefer if I just shut up.”

“He’s quite right you know.” Fran chimed in, her eye having produced another twitch at the sound of his voice, although she was somewhat pleased to know he had at least picked up on her distaste and was respecting it.

Kiros blinked, “Oh, well then. Um, do either of you have any more questions? And if Doktor Odine makes you uncomfortable in anyway just let us know, we’ll take care of it.”

Balthier chuckled, “So forthright my dear.” He shook his head and turned back to the two men standing before them, “Thank you for all of your help. Until we can start moving about however, I certainly don’t have any questions.”

Fran simply nodded in agreement with Balthier, scooting to the edge of her bed and closing her eyes, resting her head upon her Captain’s shoulder tiredly. Although learning about Odine had soured her mood even more than Laguna’s presence, the thought of then being alone once more was already helping to make her feel better.

Laguna released a gentle sigh, smiling softly. The atmosphere seemed just right for two hospital patients eager to get back to their privacy who had just learned about the crazy man hired to fix them. Nothing odd...nothing out of place...aside from the obvious at least. His entire point of coming was to let his gut decide whether or not the thought of his citizen’s acting in an undesirable way towards the guests...but no, it just wasn’t there. The people of Esthar, while scared, were still good people. “Well then, good to meet you folks. I apologize again for the interruption. And...not just about Odine, if you need ANYTHING you just contact us directly.”

Balthier looked up from where he had rested his head against Fran’s as Laguna spoke, “How are we to get to you directly when we can’t leave here?”

Kiros chuckled, “What you’ll need to do is ask the nurse for Doctor Seamus. He’ll contact us directly without letting anyone attempting to spy on your condition or even Doktor Odine know about it. He’s the President’s personal physician, so his coming and goings are no longer questioned by anyone.”

Balthier nodded, “Doctor Seamus it is then. Thank you.”

Fran’s eyes remained closed as she simply continued to ignore the conversation. If they had managed to find something important to talk about, her Captain will have taken care of it. The feeling of her eyelids being shut was causing her skin to tingle, her body readily accepting the idea of actual sleep, the sensation of her contact with Balthier more comfortable than any bed.

“Alright then, we’ll let you two get your rest.” Laguna gave a casual two-fingered salute, turning and stepping out of the room, holding the door open for Kiros.

Balthier nodded, “Yes, and thank you again.” He grinned down at Fran as she slowly fell asleep then turned back to his food. With a small frown he pulled it closer and despite it now being rather cooler than he would have liked, he finished eating it anyway. He was hungry after all! Though he did so slowly and left handed so that he wouldn’t disturb Fran as she slept.

**Author's Note:**

> We do not own any rights to Final Fantasy 8 or Final Fantasy 12 or their characters. This work is not for profit...obviously...since it's an RP... .


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